Sunday, August 11, 2024
1 Kgs 19:4-8 | Eph 4:30-5:2 | Jn 6:41-51
I have lived as a missioner for many years in countries of Africa: in Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, and South Sudan. I have been deeply influenced by what I saw and heard from the people, and what I discerned by study of the cultures and customs. And in relation to our scripture readings this Sunday, and the teachings about the Eucharist and Jesus as “the living bread come down from heaven,” of this, too, I learned much.
In some of the very rural, not commercially developed areas, much of our travel from village to village was by walking.
But not alone. Almost always, a catechist or teacher of the fledgling Christian community, and sometimes a few of the Christians with him or her, accompanied me from the village where I had been ministering to the next village. I clearly remember one day a sort of monument along the path, rocks piled in a clearly distinct manner. I asked, ‘What is this?’ They explained, “this is a part of our history. We are a people who always believed in god or gods. And this rock cairn is an expression of that.”
We struggled to know God, who God is, and how God acts and relates to us, they said. But there was an awareness of God; God exists and is somehow in relationship to us. They said that so much of the Hebrew scripture—as we came to know of it in our journey to become Christians—related to us and we to it. We saw this in the many examples in scripture of nature like mountains and deserts and rivers and grasslands and trees. And people hearing voices and identifying these as God’s voice.
And I remember one time in particular: it was during a time in the Church’s liturgical year when the scripture readings were the same as are proclaimed in our Mass today. About Elijah being tired and dispirited, laying down and going to sleep as if to die. And being awakened by an angel of God and being told to eat. And seeing food and drink before him. And eating and sleeping again. Then the call of the angel happened a second time. Elijah ate and drank and now strengthened for the journey he walked 40 days to Horeb the mountain of God.
And then also St. Paul in the letter to the Ephesians today says, in the spirit of God, “let all bitterness, fury, anger and shouting be removed from you. And be kind to one another, compassionate and forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be imitators of God, as God’s children and live in love as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us.” This scripture passage is so meaningful to me along with the passage we read today from St. John’s Gospel, chapter 6:41-51. Jesus calls himself the bread of life. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; and whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
I had held a gathering with a group of catechists during the week. And we had been discussing the readings for the coming Sunday’s liturgy as these catechists would be leading liturgies in their villages that had no priests. And the question arose: do we really believe that Jesus has died for us, we all who are sinners, and that this Jesus has given his life and truly brings God’s life to us? For us to share and live, this day and every day? One of the catechists said, “Yes, this is my faith, that Jesus is truly son of God, the one who comes from the living God of all creation and all time. And we now, living in the gift of the Eucharist in our community gatherings and then taking that Eucharistic life out to our sisters and brothers, we are continuing to live and spread the life and saving love of the truly living God among us.”
A few weeks ago, the United States Church celebrated the National Eucharistic Congress. Bishop Andrew Cozzens said the Bishops took their inspiration from Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, on the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world. The Eucharistic Congress is dedicated to serving people and parishes throughout the United States. Bishop Cozzens said: “It’s a missionary year where we are inviting every Catholic to take up the call from Pope Francis to be missionary disciples.”
“Encounter and mission are two staples of our Eucharistic renewal,” Bp. Cozzens said, explaining: “We want people to encounter Jesus and then send them on mission, which we got of course from Evangelii Gaudium.”
I read and reflect upon and apply the teaching of Jesus that he and God the Father – the one he calls Abba – are one in this relationship. Jesus is the living bread bringing God’s saving love and presence to each of us and calling out for us to “do this in memory” of him. We pray that our faith be strong and our actions firm. Like the catechist I met in Tanzania who proclaimed his deep faith and lived it in service to others.
Maryknoll Father Kenneth Thesing, from Winona, Minnesota, has served in various African countries in ministries to facilitate agriculture and access to food for the prevention of hunger. He has served as advisor to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Featured image: Maryknoll Father Kenneth Thesing buys fruit in a street market in Juba, South Sudan, in this photo from 2016. (Sean Sprague/South Sudan)
