21st Sun of OT Year B Homily

1st Reading: Jos 24:1-2,15-18

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 34:2-3,16-21

2nd Reading: Eph 5:21-32

Gospel: Jn 6:60-69

Our week of prayer has perfect timing in the scheme of the liturgical year. On this day our time spent with the sixth chapter of Saint John's Gospel comes to a close. For the past five weeks we have been hearing about the importance of the Eucharist. We have heard about how the bread and wine that is present within the Mass truly becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. Following our noon Mass we will kick off our week of prayer. During this week we will spend time as a parish family coming together as one body to grow in our faith. Throughout this week the Eucharist will be calling out to each of us to take some time out of our busy days for silent prayer. We are all being invited during this week to evaluate our relationship with Christ through prayer and to see in what ways that we need to continue grow closer to Him out of love. During this upcoming week of prayer we will be held together by the Holy Eucharist which is continually calling out to us to give more of ourselves to Christ.

In our Gospel passage from today we hear that Christ's message was hard to understand for those that were present. It was so foreign to the ears of these people that some of them decided they could no longer follow Christ. They had forgotten the miracle that they had just experienced and decided that they would turn away from Christ and go back into the world as if nothing had happened to them. The apostles decided that they would stay with Christ because they had realized that He had the words of everlasting life. What makes us Catholic is our understanding of the Holy Eucharist and allowing it to be the very thing that holds us together as a Church. We do not remain Catholic because of our music, preaching, or family events. These are all praiseworthy things which help to build up the Kingdom of God, but they are not the thing that we can base our faith upon. Our faith is not based upon the priest and his fame or the lack there of, but is founded upon the Eucharist.

In our week of prayer it will be the Eucharist which will be central to our prayer. The Eucharist must be central to our prayer because it is the thing that holds our faith together. If we can grow in respect and devotion to the Eucharist we can understand what it means to be Catholic. We can understand what it means to be unified together as the one body of Christ because we are being held into community by Christ's Body and Blood. In our first reading from Joshua we heard that the people gathered before God and decided whom they would serve. Some decided that they would remain with God while others decided that the pleasures of the world were more important. This happened again in John's Gospel when the people decided that it would be best for them to go back into the world rather then follow after Christ. We today are having this same invitation extended to us and we have the freedom to choose to follow or to head back into the world as if nothing has happened.

In our letter from Saint Paul to the Ephesians we are reminded of the effect that our baptism has upon the Church and our souls. Baptism has cleansed us all from our sinfulness and has invited us to enter fully into the Church. Through baptism our relationship with the Church resembles the relationship that should be found inside of the sacrament of marriage. In marriage we find a giving of self towards another out of love. It should be our goal to take advantage of prayer within our lives, so that we make the decision to no longer make excuses. Instead of allowing excuses to seep into our lives to why we cannot make time for prayer we must turn towards Christ totally. When we totally allow ourselves to be handed over to Him we are allowing ourselves to hear the voice of Christ more and more within our lives. The more that we buffer the noise of the world and allow ourselves to enter into prayer the louder the voice of Christ will become within our lives.

May we allow ourselves to take advantage of this upcoming week of prayer. I realize that not everyone from this Church community will be able make it to the events scheduled, but we should still feel challenged to take it upon ourselves to evaluate our life of prayer and ask ourselves what we can do to improve our relationship with Christ. If we find ourselves in the area with some time to spare maybe we can remember that Christ is present inside of the chapel and desires us to spend time with Him even if it is only for a minute. For those who have made the commitment to spend an hour before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament this week may they have an increase of faith that takes place within their families and lives. No matter what our situation is during this upcoming week may we not allow ourselves to turn away from Christ because we are to busy. Let us not allow this excuse to enter into our lives as we head into this upcoming week of prayer. May we spend this time to taste and see the goodness of the Lord at work within our lives.