This Sunday's Gospel is from John 6 - for five weeks, the Gospel will be from John 6 - called the Bread of Life Dialogue - this chapter begins with this Sunday's Gospel - the feeding of the 5,000 - as I read this Sunday's Scriptures - I remembered last Tuesday - I was visiting my brother - and we went off to play golf with my nephew and this three children - as well as a friend - and even my sister-in-law came along to drive and coach - it was great fun and fortunately, the course was not crowded - so we did not disturb things.
The Feeding of the 5,000 reminded me of when we headed to a local Pizza place for lunch - no- it wasn't freely passed out - but is is quite an expereience to charge in - order the pizza - try to figure out who gets what - and then pass it all out - so I couldn't help but wonder how Jesus dealt with the logistics of this Gospel experience - as he fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish.
The Sunday Scriptures set the stage for the Gospel story - with the reading from Paul's Letter to the Ephesians - here St. Paul counsels and urges the people "to live in a manner of the call you have received" - the first step in our journey to live as good Christians and followers of Jesus Christ and good members of the Catholic church - is to remember that we are called - the reality is that all people are called to live in the Spirit of Our Savior - but many do not recognize this call - so Paul urges us today to realize that we are called - we are chosen in a special way - our world can be a better place, if we would but recognized that we have been chosen and God longs to work through us to make the world a better place.
So - St. Paul sets out for us a program - a path to follow - so that we can live as chosen people - he begins with the virtues of humility, gentleness and patience - rather, basic virtures - but let us first of all remember these are not passive virtues - to be humble, gentle, and patient does not mean to sit back and watch the world go by - to refuse to do anything - to express our humility and gentleness adnpatience by avoiding everything and everyone - so that we may remain in God's Spirit - we are humble when we know who we ar and honestly accept our gifts and shortcomings and use those gifts that are ours as well as we can - we are gentle when we remove from our ives all that is of violence and anger - and become a force for good by being gentle - and we make the world world a better place because we deal with the experiences of life by being a person of patience and calmness - in our actions and our speech.
Paul goes on - "bear with one another through love" - don't you love it - "bear with one another" - Paul knows that some times along our journey of life, we will run into difficult relationships - difficult experiences - challenges from tohers - and Paul says - "bear with one another" - and how - "through love."
He writes - "preserve the unity of the Spirit - through peace" - we can unite our families and our parishes and our communities - when we are a force for peace - when we make our community and our family a place of unity and love - when we personally live in peace - when we do all we can to bring peace into our communities - this is what makes us a Church - the People of God - because we are united in peace and love - always rady to make our world a better place.
How do we do this best - by reaching out to help others in any way we can - so Jesus gives us such a wonderful example - in this story of the feeding of the 5,000 - which of course reminds us of our Eucharist - as Jesus unites us in Spirit and love by inviting us to the altar of the Lord for this most important and beautiful sacrament - that unites us to our od and unites us to each other.
One more thing - around here - there will be a second collection this Sunday - this is for the Missionary Projects of the Diocese of Ogdensburg - for over 40 years - our diocese sent priests - at least two at a time - to South America - to the city of Mollendo, in Southern Peru - to staff a local parish - a few years ago, it was necessary to end this missionary effort - but the Diocese continues to help the missions - especially, our friends in Mollendo - through this second collection - it was one of the more memorable experiences in my life to spend three years at this parish in Peru - I must admit it had a powerful influence in whom I am as a priest - probably doing more for me than for the people there - but I think it did say something to those people - and to the people of our diocese - that it is important for us to be a mission conscience diocese - that we are concerned with our Church - far beyond the limits of our diocese - far beyond each of our parishes - so today I remember and pray for so may wonderful people who were part of my life as a missionary priest in South America.
One quick P.S. - recently, on my Facebook page (yes, I have one - come join me) - up came a young man who I remember so well from down in Mollendo.
LET US PRAY
Almighty God, my Father - I pray this day that you may touch my life - teach me, Lord - how to be humble, gentle, patient - help me to be a person of peace - that I may live in teh Spirit of the great saint, St. Paul - and in the Spirit of my Savior, Jesus Christ. This is my prayer. Amen.
Please join me as we say together the Lord's Prayer.
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