These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Jesus said: “I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10:9-10)
Abundant life . . . to be fully alive. It was Saint Irenaeus who said a long time ago:
“The glory of God is man, woman, fully alive."
This Good Shepherd Sunday we pray for all those who seek to be fully alive in service to the community of the church.
As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (Jn 6:66-68)
The gospels are pretty harsh with Simon Peter. They usually recount how Peter puts his foot in his mouth. But today’s gospel is different. For once, Peter gets it right. When many of the disciples abandoned Jesus, the Lord turns to the Twelve and asks if they also want to leave him. And Simon Peter answers for them and for us:
“Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him”. (Jn 6:53-56)
To remain in Christ and Christ in us . . . the Bread of Life Discourse makes our communion with Christ the center of our faith. And so, meal time is God time for us. The Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker reminds us of how the meals at home point to the communion we have with one another and with Christ. I remember going to bless a home when I was studying Spanish in Mexico. Over the dining room table there was a picture of the Last Supper and underneath it an inscription: El Huésped Invisible en Todas las Comidas (The Invisible Guest at Every Meal).
As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?” Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:36,38-39)
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (or as the poor lector read in church, the Ethiopian “Unch”) is one of the most important stories for the early church. The eunuch’s question, “What is to prevent my being baptized?” is the essential question for the church then and now (because some folks are always looking to exclude others). The answer to the question, "What is to prevent my being baptized?" is, of course, the Law of God! Because the Bible says:
No one whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may come into the assembly of the Lord (Dt 23:2).
Eunuchs were considered an abomination . . . and couldn’t be part of the community. (The passage tells us that the eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship . . . but being a eunuch he couldn’t even enter the Temple!) But with the guidance of the Spirit, the church set aside the Law of God in favor of inclusion and salvation, and the eunuch is baptized and “continued on his way rejoicing.”
Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (Jn 6:35)
In this time of Eucharist fasting due to the physical distancing necessary because of the coronavirus, we are more acutely aware of our need for the Food that satisfies every human hunger and need. Saint Catherine of Siena hungered for this Bread of Life. She is one of four women doctors of the church (along with Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Therese of Lisieux, & Saint Hildegard of Bingen).
