10 August 2024 – 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) (Sunset Mass)

by Fr Fabian Dicom

In today’s Gospel, Jesus continues to reveal himself as the bread of life, a theme that runs through the heart of our faith. But what does it truly mean for us to receive Jesus as the bread of life?

It is more than just partaking in a ritual. It is about allowing ourselves to be nourished, to be transformed and embraced by God in a way that changes us from the inside out.

In the First Reading, we encounter Elijah, a prophet exhausted and ready to give up. He had enough of the struggles and disappointments in life. ‘Take me‘ he tells God. But God does not abandon him in his despair. Instead, God sends an angel to provide him with food and drink, sustaining him for the journey ahead.

This is more than just physical nourishment. It is a sign of God’s enduring presence, a divine embrace that gives Elijah the strength to carry on.

Henry Nouwen in his reflection on Rembrandt’s painting (the painting is there), the return of the Prodigal Son, describes a moment that resonates deeply with this theme. In the painting that you see, the father embraces his returning son who had squandered his life and was spiritually and materially starving. The son receives not just food but a warm loving embrace. A warm loving embrace, a symbol of total forgiveness. And more than that, a symbol of unconditional love.

Henry Nouwen writes about how this embrace is a profound experience of God’s love which is always available to us, no matter how far we have wandered.

This story of the embrace touches something deep within us because it reminds us, reminds you, reminds me, of our own need to be nourished by God’s love. Just as the father nourished his son with an embrace, Jesus nourishes us with his very presence in the Eucharist.

This is not just bread. It is an ongoing miracle in our lives. And you must believe that.

Each time we receive the Eucharist, it is Jesus embracing us, welcoming us back home, accepting us as we are, with no conditions whatsoever. Every time we do that.

And most importantly, nourishing us with his divine love, His divine and unconditional love.

So ask ourselves this evening:
~ Are we aware of this miracle that is happening in our lives?
~ Do we recognise the wonderful gift that Jesus offers us each time we approach the altar? 

The Eucharist, my dear brothers and sisters, is more than just a symbol. It is a living encounter with Christ. Yet, how often do we take it for granted, searching for satisfaction elsewhere, in the false promises of the world?

We are distracted by negativity, by divisions, by even conspiracy theories. We are distracted by the different teachings and novelties and programs, even in the church. Even right here sometimes we are distracted with our tasks, and the people around us and how they appear and how they are dressed.

The focus is this (the altar). Everything else, my dear brothers and sisters, does not matter.

I think there is wisdom in the way the church chooses the Readings of the weeks. And it is so important for us to get in touch with this, the bread of life.

There is this story that highlights the danger of missing the miracle that is right in front of us, from Anthony DeMello in The Song of the Bird, the story called The Little Fish.

‘Excuse me,’ said an ocean fish speaking to another fish. ‘You are older than I. So can you tell me where to find this thing called ‘the ocean’?’

‘The ocean?’ said the older fish, ‘It is the thing you are in now.’

‘Oh this? But this is water. What I am seeking is the ocean.’ said the disappointed fish as he swam away to search elsewhere.

The fish is surrounded by what it is searching for yet it is unaware.

Similarly, we often search for meaning, for fulfilment, for connection outside of ourselves, when the very thing we seek is right here, in the Eucharist, in the embrace of Jesus Christ.

This is why it is so important to rekindle our desire, the desire here (heart), and the need to rekindle this need, desperate need, for the Eucharist. We must remind ourself that in the Eucharist, Christ gives us everything we need. You have your experience. And we need fall back on that. 

He is the true bread of life, sustaining us, nourishing us and embracing us with the love that knows no bounds. This ongoing miracle is not something abstract or lofty. It is something that touches the very core of who we are.

Jesus presents himself as food, not as an idea or a theory or a theological concept. As food because food is something that becomes part of us. We digest it, we absorb it and it nourishes us from within.

When we receive the Eucharist, we are not just taking bread. We are allowing Christ to become a part of us. We are allowing Christ to become a part of us. By doing so, to transform us, to heal us and to make us whole.

But just we are nourished by Christ, we are also called to be that nourishment for others. Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians urges us to be imitators of God and to live in love just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.

This means that the love that we receive in the Eucharist is not meant to be kept for ourselves. It is meant to be shared.

We are called to be ‘bread‘ for the world, to be the presence of Christ for those who are hungry, for those who are lonely, for those who are in need. Each and every one of us. We are called to give our 5 loaves, your 5 loaves, my 5 loaves, and 2 fish. That is all. And He will take it, He will bless it, He will break it and He will give it and multitudes will be fed. Believe me.

All we have to do would be to be that little boy who brought that 5 loaves and 2 fish because we have been nourished, we have been embraced by Jesus.

So my dear brothers and sisters, as we approach the altar today, let us be mindful of the profound gift we are about to receive. Let us open our hearts to the embrace of Jesus who nourishes us with His very self. Let this Eucharist rekindle our desire for God and let us recognise it as the ongoing miracle that it is. A miracle that happens in our lives every time we come to this table.

May we not be like the fish searching for the ocean, unaware of the grace that surrounds us.

Instead, may we be truly present to the miracle of the Eucharist, allowing it to transform us, nourish us, and send us out into the world to be the hands and feet of Christ.

And as we go forth, let us remember we are what we eat. We are what we eat. In receiving the body of Christ, you and I become the body of Christ.

And in becoming the body of Christ, we are called to be His presence in the world, nourishing, healing and embracing those around us with that same love that we ourselves have received.

Let us pray for that during this Mass.

Click below to listen to homily and watch video:-

Click to live-stream Mass on 10 August 2024