21st Sunday in Ordinary Time 2018

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
August 26, 2018

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

As I was saying before, today’s Gospel is the final part of Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist, which we have read over the past 5 Sundays.

It is indeed a long passage where Jesus talks about the “bread of life,” after he has fed 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and some fish, chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel.

So these past Sundays, we are reflecting on the fact that by receiving the Eucharist, we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus. And in the Eucharist, Jesus asks us to have faith in him. Faith that should bring a conversion — a full commitment to his life and teachings.

And I think this is even more important today, in the life of the Church and in our country. There are many needs in the Church for reform and renewal. For changing the ways we do things, especially for bishops and the clergy.

But, my brothers and sisters, the deeper renewal we need is spiritual. The foundation of every reform in the Church is a return to Jesus Christ — his person and his mission. His life, his death and resurrection for us and for our salvation.

This moment in the life of the Church is a call for all of us to really live our faith in Jesus Christ, to really make him the center of our lives. We all need to have that living friendship with him, walking with him every day and trying to change our lives to live according to his words. 

And that’s exactly the challenge that we hear about in our Gospel reading today — how to follow Christ in our lives, how to live as he is calling us to live.

So in today’s Gospel, we hear what the people think after everything that they have seen and heard. And as we heard — some of them were scandalized, shocked.

But it’s useful, I think to remember what Jesus was saying to them. In the Gospel last Sunday we heard him say: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Yes, these words were too hard for some people to accept. They just could not believe that he would ask them to eat his flesh and drink his blood. His teaching made them angry and confused.

So, today in our Gospel we see the sad reality that many people stopped following Jesus. They went back to doing what they had been doing before he entered into their life.

And isn’t it true, my dear brothers and sisters, that we see something similar in our time, in our society. Many people, including some young people — again, sadly — are drifting away from the Church or becoming indifferent to faith and practicing no religion at all.

Unbelief is a challenge in every time and place, throughout the history of the Church. There are always people who will not accept the Gospel. People who are afraid to change their lives, or maybe they have their own ideas for what they want to believe about God.

And as we see in today’s Gospel, this was a challenge even for Jesus. What he said then, still applies today:

The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe.

Strong words.

So the Gospel demands a real commitment from us. We have a choice to make.

With God, it is all or nothing at all. That is the story we heard in today’s first reading. Like the people in Joshua’s time, God calls each of us to make a personal decision in our lives. In that first reading we heard Joshua say:

Decide today whom you will serve.

We hear how the people decided to serve God. And this is the choice that is given also to all of us. Jesus wants us to decide, to make a decision, he wants us to give him — all our heart and all our mind, and all the strength of our will.

It seems to me, I guess as my personal opinion, that many people turn away from the Church because they just cannot believe that God could love them personally. They just cannot believe that he would be willing to suffer for them and give his own life for them. They do not believe they are worthy enough to be loved, again, personally by God.

Which we know, especially thinking of the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and knowing our personal relationship with God — that God really loves each one of us personally. To you and to me, each one of us.

He’s not just a God who is out there, but he is a God who is here, with us. Jesus who walks with us all the time.

So today we need to ask for the grace to renew our decision to live for Jesus Christ. St. Paul says in the second reading today: “Live in love, as Christ loved us.”

That is the beautiful mystery of our faith — that Christ loves us, with no questions asked!  Even in our weakness, even in our sinfulness. Even when people turn their back on God, he does not abandon them. Jesus died for love and he died for you, and he died for me. He loved us and gave himself up for us.²

This is what Jesus was trying to tell the people in the Gospel today. He is talking about his Cross. But he is talking also about the Eucharist.

The offering of his Body and Blood that he makes on the Cross continues in the offering of his Body and Blood that he makes on the altar, in every celebration of the Eucharist.

That is what he meant when he told them that “the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

So my dear brothers and sisters, today let us renew our love to be with Jesus in the Eucharist! Let us go to him with confidence. Let us say with St. Peter:

Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.

We can trust in the love of God. Completely. Independently of the situation in our personal lives, or of society, or in the Church. We can give ourselves totally to Jesus. Just like St. Peter did; just like the saints have trusted him down through the ages.

And then, let us never forget that Jesus is sending us to the world to share these words of eternal life with our neighbors. He is sending us out to tell the world the good news of Jesus and the love of God — that God loves each one of us personally, that’s the message that we are bringing to the people of our time.

So, this week, let us try to draw closer to Jesus in the Eucharist. And let us try to share his love in practical ways in our everyday life.

And let us keep praying and working for the reform and renewal of the Church.

And may the Virgin Mary, our Blessed Mother, help us always to hold true to the words of Jesus, which are Spirit and life.