Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Two verses especially captivate me in our readings today. From the book of Exodus: “Then the Lord said to Moses, I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.” And from our Psalm: “Can God spread a table in the desert?” My heart goes to the Eucharist. Jesus pours himself out to us as the Bread of Life on the table that God faithfully spreads in every place and every season of life. In the Gospel Jesus gives us the metaphor of a sower. We feast at the Eucharistic banquet to be sent out to sow the seeds of Good News. Today, let us invite the Lord to give us a renewed hunger for the Eucharist and an increased fervor to glorify the Lord by our lives.
Every Mass presents an opportunity to fall more deeply in love with Jesus and to reverence him more profoundly. When we cry out Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory . . . we enter the heavenly sanctuary, beholding God as Isaiah the Prophet did in his vision (Isaiah 6). Like Isaiah we fall to our knees in awe and wonder before the Holy Trinity whose transcendent glory we behold yet cannot fully imagine. We receive the Eucharist much like the burning coal that touched Isaiah’s lips, and we are set on fire with passionate love for God and grateful desire to serve our neighbor. During every Mass, God rains down bread from heaven for us. WOW – may we never lose sight of the incomparable awesomeness of this heavenly provision; may we never grow complacent nor take it for granted!
In our Psalm, the people spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the desert?” The answer is YES! YES, God can spread a table in the desert! In fact, God spreads the Eucharistic Table every day in the 221,700 parishes throughout the world, raining down the very real presence of Jesus Christ to a dry and thirsty people. I find hope, confidence, and assurance in the perpetual offering of the Mass. Regardless of my state in life, regardless of my emotional, physical, mental, social state, regardless of whether my life experience is a desert or a verdant pasture, I come to God’s Table along with the entire Church, and I feast on the Bread of Life. Christ’s very real body, blood, soul, and divinity consuming, filling my body, blood, soul, and humanity. God rains down God’s life-giving presence. WOWWW!
As intimate and personal as my communion with the Lord is at his Eucharist, it is not a “me and Jesus” experience. Our faith is inherently “Us.” We commune together around the table, we receive the bread from heaven, we are sent out as the nourished Body of Christ. In the parable of the sower, Jesus says, “A sower went out to sow . . .” and he proceeds to describe types of soil and receptivity to the sown seed. Could it be that the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, might actually become “seed” for us? Fueled by the heavenly meal, we sow the seed of Good News, whether by our words or our actions. In essence, we, the Eucharistic people, “sow” the Eucharist, the presence of Christ. In sowing, we choose love and inclusion instead of hate and exclusion, we practice works of mercy instead of selfishness, we share a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name, we offer companionship to the lonely, we operate in our spiritual gifts, we serve our neighbor. A priest whose weekly podcast I really enjoy (https://media.ascensionpress.com/category/askfrjosh/), often says “adoration leads to imitation.” As we spend time in Eucharistic adoration, as we reverence the Eucharist and take seriously its summons, our adoration will lead to imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray that today we might focus on Jesus as the Bread of Life, as our manna from heaven. Let us ask God for the graces we need to love Christ even more in the Eucharist and to be more faithful followers of the One at whose lavish table we dine each week. God bless you!
Elizabeth Wourms