Fr John’s reflection for Sunday 11 Aug 2024
Having a conversation that matters
We encounter Elijah at his lowest ebb. Having escaped from the clutches of Jezebel he flees into the desert after he has put the prophets of Baal to death. At a time when we witness one of the great signs of the offering of sacrifice to God, we notice the inner turmoil within Elijah. He just wants to die because he fears for his life. Into the midst of this turmoil God enters into the dialogue through providing food for the journey not once but twice. There is a need to move beyond just wishful thinking towards a life-giving encounter that will sustain Elijah to the mountain of Horeb.
In our own lives we are sustained by this food for the journey each time we encounter Jesus’ present in the Eucharist. This encounter meets us at times when we can be on the verge of giving up and the burdens we carry appear to be too heavy. Especially as we encourage people to return to celebrate Sunday Mass post COVID we need to have conversations that matter. The obligation to attend Sunday Mass is not an extra duty to be fulfilled but a recognition that we need to be fed with the bread of life on a regular basis. We are called to the table of the Lord to celebrate who we are in God’s eyes. This is important especially when people cannot attend Mass because of their illness. That they can be remembered at our Masses and then provided with communion by people who faithfully bring the bread of life to nurture them. This demonstrates that they are not forgotten or alienated from God. Just like the angel visiting Elijah they are provided with the food for the journey.
is is especially true for people who are close to death or are faced with a life-threatening condition. Reading through the general instruction on the pastoral care of the sick we can notice some of the instructions about viaticum that involve the three sacraments of Eucharist, Penance and Anointing.
Especially in an age where people can be confronted with the reality of suffering and death, we are called to have conversations that do not shy away from the meaning we find in life. People need to be accompanied so that suffering and death does not have the final word. We are called to see the value of each person’s life through the eyes of God. It is this pastoral care that provides the sensitivity to provide what is on hand to draw a person into a deeper relationship with God. This seeks to alleviate both their physical and spiritual suffering that can so easily cause them to be plagued by fears of their own worth when they feel that they are alone.
Paul also notices this in how we seek to be people who are reconciled with each other rather than diminished by our differences. The call is to be people who sustain each other especially when we notice our own resistances to God’s grace. The Eucharistic presence available to us through confession helps us to notice how God enters our deepest fears. We are not left alone to fight the battle of faith on our own. This anointing also sustains us to influence others even at the moment of death by freeing us from what oppresses and afflicts us.
God does not abandon us to our own fears, our own sins or our own hunger. He provides the bread of life that offers his very self. This encounter sustains us in the journey of life and embraces us with the promise of eternal life. As people who walk with others on this journey we can become pilgrims of faith, hope and love, who see in each meeting that every life has a deeper meaning, and no prayer is left unanswered.
DE COLORES!
Fr. John Armstrong
“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)