21st Sunday homily in Ordinary Time Year B
Theme: JESUS HAS THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE….. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”
By: Fr. Miquel VENQUE i To
(Solsona, Lleida, Spain)
Homily for Sunday August 22 2021
Today, the Gospel takes us to Capernaum where, many q–who have seen his miracles are following Jesus, especially those that were present at the spectacular multiplication of the loaves and fishes. As it is often said, Jesus, in that town, chanced to socially die of success; they even wanted to appoint him as their king. It is a key moment in Jesus’ catechesis. It is when He begins to clearly divulge the supernatural dimension of his message. And, as Jesus is such a good catechist, the perfect priest, the best bishop and Pope, He lets them go away; He is sad, but He is faithful to his message and He will not be blinded by popular success.
A great priest used to say that, throughout the history of the Church, many who looked like essential and vital columns of the Church had fallen down: «Many disciples withdrew and no longer followed him» (Jn 6:66). You and I may fall, “disregard”, go away, criticize, “follow our own whims and fancies”. Humbly and confidently let us tell Jesus that, today, tomorrow and always, we want to remain faithful to Him; let us ask him to help us realizing the evangelic futility of trying to debate God’s teachings, or those of the Church, on the grounds that “I do not understand them”: «Lord, to whom shall we go?» (Jn 6:68). We should demand a better supernatural sense. The Words of Eternal Life can only be found in Jesus and within his Church: «You have the words of eternal life?» (Jn 6:68).
As Peter already knew, we also know that Jesus speaks to us with a supernatural language, a language we must correctly tune it up to be able to fully understand its message; otherwise, we can only hear incoherent and unpleasant sounds; we must be very careful with the right syntony. As it happened to Peter, in our life as Christians we also have moments where we must refurbish and reiterate that we are in Jesus and we want to remain in Him. Peter loved Jesus Christ, and this is why he stays; the others just wanted Him for the bread, for the “candies”, for political reasons, so they choose to go away. Love and trust are the secret of faithfulness. Let us ask Virgo fidelis to help us today and now to be faithful to the Church we have.
Fr. Miquel VENQUE i To
(Solsona, Lleida, Spain)