Usually I like to focus on the Gospel, but I want to focus mostly on that second reading today. We are right in the middle of five weeks of reading the letter of St. James. It is a really great letter, and I encourage you to read it if you have some time later today. It is only five chapters, but it is five power packed chapters.
Often in the Gospels we hear people coming to Jesus in need of healing, crying out to him in boldness and trust, and often we hear those words of Jesus, “go, your faith has healed you.”
In Pope Francis’ book entitled, “The Name of God is Mercy,” he highlights the challenge facing pastors and people today when discussing the reality of sin and God’s merciful forgiveness.
So if you have ever shopped for a bible, you are probably aware that there are many different versions out there, the NAB, RSV, KJV, NIV... many different versions. One version that I find interesting is the Jefferson Bible. Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd President, took scissors to his bible and cut out all of the miracles of Jesus, all of the stuff he couldn’t personally believe from the Gospels, including the Resurrection and the Ascension, again, miracles, and pasted what was left into a new book, known as the Jefferson Bible.
So I went on retreat last week, just got back yesterday afternoon in time for confessions. I spent the week at a Benedcitine Abbey. It was a great week, I prayed a lot, I slept a lot, and I even read a whole book. Only about 100 pages, but a big accomplishment for me, I can hardly ever find time to read.
Today we continue with the Bread of Life Discourse. This is no doubt a difficult teaching, just as it was then for the Jews who murmured in today’s reading, and even some of the disciples who walked away later in the chapter.
In today’s Gospel we heard the beginning of the Bread of Life Discourse. This is kind of the core of this Gospel in John 6. Last week we heard the feeding of five thousand, and this Gospel reading we just heard followed that, but we skipped a few verses in between.
We just heard from the Gospel of John, chapter 6, my favorite chapter of scripture in the Bible. We will be hearing from this chapter for three more weeks, so you will begin to figure out why I like it so much.
Jesus said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” The Apostles had just returned from their mission and were talking about how successful their work was, but Jesus doesn’t tell them to get back out there and go again, He invites them to rest, to find some peace and quiet. He asks them to take a little retreat with Him.
A fun conversation that I like to have with other athletes is, “who is the most famous person you ever played against?” I guess I called myself an athlete there, which might be generous, I guess I should say, I played a lot of sports in high school and occasionally now, so whether I am an “athlete” is debatable.
Happy Fathers Day to all fathers, grandfathers, godfathers and spiritual fathers. I’ll give a special blessing to all fathers at the end of Mass. Since it is Father’s Day, and inspired by today’s Gospel, I feel compelled to talk a little bit about being on the boat with my father. I have many memories in the boat with dad, mostly on the lake, which is really where the Gospel story today took place - the “Sea” of Galilee is actually a big lake which would only rate as the second biggest lake in the state if it were in Iowa.
A lot of people have asked me, “so are you going to continue to celebrate Mass on the radio?” It’s a question that I have wrestled with. Broadcasting this Mass actually is difficult for me. It’s not like we are broadcasting the regular Sunday Mass live, I have to record it in advance, so it really messes with my preparations and my schedule and I have to find people to help... it isn’t easy, let's just say that.
So if you are ever around a seminarian this would happen quite frequently, at least early on in seminary, we’d see one of our friends and say, “hey! How was your day? What was the best part of your day?” You know, small talk like that, and almost without faith they would say, “going to Mass and receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.”
This is one of my favorite weekends of the year, it’s Ordination Weekend. We had one man ordained to the transitional diaconate on Friday night, and three men ordained to the Priesthood for the Archdiocese of Dubuque yesterday at the Cathedral.
It sure has been a rainy week. Have you ever noticed that when the rain comes down it has different effects on different people? Some like it for their flowers - that’d be my mom. Farmers like it for their crops - that’d be my dad. City folk like it for their grass - that’d be my brother-in-law. My nephews like it because it brings out the worms for fishing. Some of my friends around here like it because it brings up the level of the river so they can go boating.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” This line always catches my attention. It is challenging… I mean it is really easy to say, “God, I love you” but much harder to observe His commandments at all times.
Can you give God 1%? Can you give Him just 1% of your time in a day in prayer? There are 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, 1440 minutes in a day and if we were to give Him 1% of our time, that would be 15 minutes in a day.
Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday and when I think about what that means along with this reading I think about the time I spent in Guatemala. I was down there learning Spanish, back early in my seminary formation, and there was this lake that I got to go to a couple times. It’s a beautiful lake. It’s like a mile deep and it’s surrounded by 3 volcanoes and it’s called Lake Atitlan.
This Gospel we just heard is a very important one to me. One of the interesting features of it is that it is one of two times where God breathed into humanity, and since there are only two instances, that makes it important to reflect on.