We continue this weekend with a discourse on the divine providence, because of the readings we have been given. The first reading tells of the prophet Elijah, in flight from the wicked queen of Israel, Jezebel, who wished to have him killed; in distress and on the way to the mountain upon which Moses received the ten commandments, the prophet now is fed miraculously by an angelic figure.
“…when Achab told Jezabel of what Elias had done, how he had put all her prophets to the sword, she sent Elias a message, ‘The gods punish me as I deserve, and more, if by this time tomorrow I have not sent thee the way yonder prophets went.’ Whereupon he took fright, and set out upon a journey of his own devising; made his way to Bersabee in Juda, and left his servant to wait there, while he himself went on, a whole day’s journey, into the desert. Betaking himself there, and sitting down under a juniper tree, he prayed to have done with life. ‘I can bear no more, Lord,’ he said; ‘put an end to my life; I have no better right to live than my fathers.’ With that, he lay down and fell asleep under the juniper tree; but all at once an angel of the Lord roused him, bidding him awake and eat. Then he found, close to where his head lay, a girdle-cake and a pitcher of water; so he ate and drank and lay down to sleep again. But once more the angel of the Lord roused him; ‘Awake and eat,’ said he, ‘thou hast a journey before thee that will tax thy strength.’ So he rose up, and ate and drank; strengthened by that food he went on for forty days and forty nights, till he reached God’s own mountain, Horeb.”
Third book of the Kings, 19: 1-8 [link]
We have also been working the last few Sunday through the sixth chapter of the Gospel of S. John, which is crucial for our understanding of the Holy Eucharist and Holy Communion, for much of its content is reproduced by the Church in the Catechism for that Sacrament. So, to recap the gospel stories of the last few weeks, Christ first manages to feed five thousand men (not counting the women and the children) with five loaves and two fish, the enormity of which miracle causes a large crowd to chase after Him, hoping for a repeat of that miracle, by which they would be able to prove Him to be the great Prophet-king they were expecting to appear, the successor of King David whom they called Messiah. Just before His great exposition of the theology of the Holy Eucharist, Christ sends the Apostles across the sea of Galilee, into a massive storm that they cannot battle, and then walks across the water to them. When he gets to their boat, it’s smooth sailing to Capharnaum, on the western shore of the sea.
Both these miracles are significant to our understanding of Holy Communion – for the miraculous feeding establishes the ability of God to look after our physical bodies while we seek our spiritual food, and the calming of the storm suggest that if we receive and keep our Lord in the boat (through Holy Communion) we should be able to weather any storm that this life may send us. But these stories are also meant by the Evangelist S. John to introduce the rest of the chapter, in which Christ tells a crowd of Jews favourable to Him that they would have to eat Him somehow, to have the life of God flowing through them; the uncomfortable sequel to this doctrine of Christ is that many of His disciples leave His side, just as so very many Christians have abandoned communion with the Apostolic Church in the last five hundred years over the exact same subject. So, let’s have a quick look at the gospel for this weekend.
“The Jews were by now complaining of His saying, ‘I am Myself the bread which has come down from heaven.’ ‘Is not this Jesus,’ they said, ‘the son of Joseph, whose father and mother are well known to us? What does he mean by saying, I have come down from heaven?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do not whisper thus to one another. Nobody can come to Me without being attracted towards Me by the Father who sent Me, so that I can raise him up at the last day. It is written in the book of the prophets, And they shall all have the Lord for their teacher; everyone who listens to the Father and learns, comes to Me. (Not that anyone has seen the Father, except Him Who comes from God; He alone has seen the Father.) Believe me when I tell you this; the man who has faith in Me enjoys eternal life. It is I Who am the bread of life. Your fathers, who ate manna in the desert, died nonetheless; the Bread which comes down from heaven is such that he who eats of it never dies. I Myself am the living Bread that has come down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live for ever. And now, what is this bread which I am to give? It is My flesh, given for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews fell to disputing with one another, ‘How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?‘ Whereupon Jesus said to them, ‘Believe Me when I tell you this; you can have no life in yourselves, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood. The man who eats My flesh and drinks My blood enjoys eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. My flesh is real food, My blood is real drink.'”
Gospel of S. John, 6: 41-56 [link]
The fickle crowd of followers is already smarting because Christ had said that they should have to eat Him to have life. Some of them are from Nazareth, and once again we hear them say, Hey, that’s the Carpenter’s son! What’s so special about Him? But He replies at once that He the Carpenter’s son is the only way to the Father, the only means of resurrection from death. He is the only One Who, coming from the Father, knows about the Father and can therefore communicate knowledge of the Father to those who want it. And, even then, that knowledge is insufficient, for the other necessity for eternal life is an actual eating of the Bread of life. Not any manna in the desert – which Moses fed the Israelites with – or any miraculous banquet of bread and fish – such as they had just had on the Eastern side of the sea of Galilee. No, He says that it is He Who is the living Bread, through Whose flesh the eternal life of God is imparted to the men and women who commune with Him – who receive Him in Holy Communion.
Do we perhaps see the reason for the Incarnation, for God’s becoming man? He had to, in order to raise men and women up from death, through Holy Communion. So, as in the actual practice of the Church, we come to belief in Christ as the way to the Father, make a statement of that belief in the Creed, and then receive Holy Communion, to complete the deal. And we do this every time we come to Holy Mass. Why then aren’t more Catholics with us at Mass?
“No base talk must cross your lips; only what will serve to build up the faith, and bring a grace to those who are listening; do not distress God’s holy Spirit, whose seal you bear until the day of your redemption comes. There must be no trace of bitterness among you, of passion, resentment, quarrelling, insulting talk, or spite of any kind; be kind and tender to one another, each of you generous to all, as God in Christ has been generous to you. As God’s favoured children, you must be like Him. Order your lives in charity, upon the model of that charity which Christ shewed to us, when He gave Himself up on our behalf, a sacrifice breathing out fragrance as He offered it to God. As for debauchery, and impurity of every kind, and covetousness, there must be no whisper of it among you; it would ill become saints; no indecent behaviour, no ribaldry or smartness in talk; that is not your business, your business is to give thanks to God. This you must know well enough, that nobody can claim a share in Christ’s kingdom, God’s kingdom, if he is debauched, or impure, or has that love of money which makes a man an idolater.”
Letter of S. Paul to the Ephesians, 4: 29 – 5: 6 [link]
Once more, S. Paul tells us in our second reading that, once we have achieved this nearness to God (in HC), our behaviour must reflect it, through an extremity of charity to both God and man, so that we become icons of the love of God for mankind. Look at that list of sins and vices S. Paul has drawn up for us. Consider that we are made temples of the Holy Spirit in our baptism, and then you can see why Paul thinks we shouldn’t grieve the Spirit of God Who live within us. Even quarrelling and insults are intolerable to the Holy Spirit.
That must be what Christ meant in the Gospel of S. Matthew when He said, Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 