The 18th Sunday of
Ordinary Time, August 2, 2020. Readings: Romans 8:35-39; Gospel of St. Matthew
14:13-21. Theme: The Unstoppable Love of Christ
In a brand-new book entitled, Communion and Hope, Pope
Francis recently wrote: “The pandemic poses before us
fundamental questions about happiness in our lives and about the treasure of
our Christian faith. This crisis is a wake-up call that leads to a reflect on
where we sink the deepest roots that support all of us in a storm…It asks us if
we have forgotten and neglected what is truly important and necessary. It is for many a painful time of imposed
restriction from the Eucharist, but it can also remind us that Christ is
present, as he promised, where two or three gather in his name and that he is
present in his Word proclaimed and pondered upon.”
His words remind me of today’s second reading wherein St.
Paul affirms that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. The
pope’s words also remind me of today’s Gospel miracle of the multiplication of
the bread, which was a foretelling of Jesus giving us the miracle of the
Eucharist. And when we put them all together I think we can come up with the
following self-reflection question: Can we honestly say to ourselves that in
these challenging days in which we live that we will not let anything separate
us from the love of Christ that comes to us in the Eucharist?
First, let’s really understand what St. Paul is saying. He
is proclaiming the infallible truth of Scripture that there is nothing outside
of us that has the power to block or prevent the love of Christ from
encompassing us. No one and nothing except for ourselves, can break this
relationship that we have with the God who is Love. The love of God the Father
that is brought to us by Christ and poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit
can only be refused by us. We can freely choose to walk away from this
relationship. We can freely choose to reject God’s invitation to intimacy and
life together. But God, on his part, never ever makes this choice towards us.
The flip side of this, of course. is that we can also
choose to become more invested in our relationship with Christ. We
can do whatever is within our power to deepen our experience of the love of
Christ in these days of limited social contact. We can freely choose to spend
more time reading and reflecting on the Gospels, because the more we know
someone the more we fall in love with them. We can freely choose to devote more
time to being with Christ alone in prayer, because lovers always look for
opportunities to spend more time together. Those are all excellent ways to work
on our relationship with God, but of course, the Real Presence of the Risen
Lord Jesus in the Eucharist is the most intimate and personal way of
encountering him and his love.
The miracle of the multiplication of bread is a story
pointing us to the Eucharist. Just as Jesus fed the
crowd and instructed them in that deserted place, so does he also feed and
strengthen us in our present social desert by means of our Liturgy. By hearing
the Word of God proclaimed and explained to us at Mass, we are like the crowd
that was enlightened and encouraged by Jesus teaching them. By receiving the
Lord’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion we are like those people who were fed
and strengthened with the nourishment they needed to keep on keeping on.
So, I think we need to ask ourselves:
are we taking advantage of the opportunities still available to us these days
to worship, adore and receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament however and
whenever possible? If we truly believe
that the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist is the actual flesh and
blood of the God of love, and if we cannot bear to be separated from that love,
then how could we not choose to come to him?
In these time of COVID people are cautious about social
interaction and that is reasonable and good. But as Pope
Francis intimated in the quote I read earlier, we must honestly ask ourselves
if while being cautious we are also being sincere. Are we treating the more
important and necessary things of life, such as the Eucharist, with the same
regard as we treating other things? Do I do my own food shopping? Do I ever go
out to enjoy outdoor dining? Do I go to work with others outside of my home? Do
I meet up with friend to exercise or go
for a walk? If the answer is yes to any of these things but am not attending
the celebration of the Eucharist, then I must re-examine my priorities and remind
myself that going to Mass is no more of a health risk - and probably even much
less of one - than these other activities.
If I find outdoor Mass to be too large a gathering of
people on Sundays (usually at our parish with 60-70 worshippers), then do I
consider attending the outdoor Masses on weekday or Saturday mornings, which
have far less people (about 15-20)? Even though the Sunday Mass obligation has
been lifted in this time of pandemic, we can go beyond legalism and be present
at the Liturgy on another one of these other days so as to still worship and
receive the Lord. Even though Eucharistic Adoration it is not as powerful an
experience of Christ’s love as is Holy Communion, do I find a way to go to the
parish church during its open hours so that I can spend time in personal prayer
before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament?
So, you see, not even the pandemic or social restrictions
or anything else can separate us from the love of Christ that comes to us up
close and personal in the Eucharist. Only we can choose to let that happen. The
famous great miracle-worker saint, Padre Pio, once put it this way: “it is
easier for us to exist without the sun that it is for us to live without the
Eucharist.” I think that says it all.
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