Memorial of Saint Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church

Scripture Readings

When I read today’s Gospel, I can’t help but picture myself in the disciples' shoes. After Jesus tells them they will have to eat his flesh and drink his blood, they tell Christ what I have often found myself saying - “this saying is hard.” Granted it’s not always a saying I find hard. Sometimes I end up telling God, “Enduring this tragedy is too hard. Loving this person is too hard. Putting others before myself is too hard. Making peace is too hard. Forgiving is too hard.” Christ made us a lot of promises, but He never promised us that living a Christian life would be easy.  Choosing to think, talk and act like Christ will be hard. It is hard. 

As we look at the saying that the disciples found to be hard - that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood - we find a beautiful truth - we are not made to endure this alone. Christ asked us to do things that are hard, but he did not ask us to do them alone. Through the Eucharist we are united to the body of Christ - both the person of Christ and the larger community of disciples whom we know to be the body of Christ. And it is from this body that we find the strength to endure, to do hard things, to persevere through both the challenges and the celebrations. 

Let us take for example the story of Tabitha in the first reading. She was a disciple of Christ.  Paul tells us, “She was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving.” She lived her life focused on doing hard things for others, in Christ’s name. When she fell sick and died, who was it that brought her back to life - it was first the communal body of Christ. Those who shared a common faith with her, her fellow disciples were the ones who sought out Peter, asking him to come and see her. Then from there, her faith and devotion to the body of Christ saved her, through Peter. There was a need for both. 

In this time when we are enduring many hard things - one of which being our inability to fully partake in Christ’s physical body, I find myself incredibly thankful for the communal body of Christ. It is from this body of people, fellow disciples, who are living their lives by saying yes to Christ and yes to all the things He asks of us - many of which are hard - that I find strength and I find comfort. It is often these people who are holding me up in those moments that feel too hard - those moments when I, like the disciples, tell God “this is too hard!”

- AJ Grimm