ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN’S REFLECTION OF 18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B

ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN’S REFLECTION OF 18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: BREAD OF LIFE

BY: Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35

“People say, ‘Bread is dear!’, but what is that in comparison with the price of heavenly Bread, the Bread of Life? Let us therefore eat this Bread; It is ours, our Lord bought It for us and paid for It Himself. He gives It to us; we have but to take It. What an honour! What love!” – St Peter Julian Eymard

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A reflection on today’s Gospel by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:

“The people were still bent on making Our Lord King when they found Him the following day at Capharnaum. To their inquiry as to how He came thither, His answer was one which reprimanded those who thought religion had to do primarily with bread lines and soup kitchens.

“‘Believe Me, if you are looking for Me now, it is not because of the miracles you have seen; It is because you were fed with the loaves, and had your fill.’ (John 6:26)

“They had not taken the miracle as a sign of His Divinity; they were looking for Him instead of to Him. Job saw Him in His loss as well as His gain; they saw Him only as a means of satisfying their bread-hunger, not soul-hunger. Excitement is not religion; if it was, an “Alleluia” on Sunday could become a “Crucify” on Friday.

“Our Lord then told them: You should not work to earn food which perishes in the using. Work to earn food which affords, continually, eternal life, such food as the Son of Man will give you; God, the Father, has authorised Him.’ (John 6:27)

“He was setting two kinds of bread before them: the bread that could perish, and the bread that could endure unto life everlasting. He cautioned them against following Him as a donkey following the master who holds a carrot. To lift their carnal minds to Eternal Food, He suggested that they seek the Heavenly Bread the Father authorised or sealed. Oriental bread was often sealed with the official mark or name of the baker. In fact, the Talmudic word for “baker” is related to the word “seal.” As hosts used in the Mass have a seal upon them (such as a lamb, or a cross), so Our Lord was implying that the Bread they should seek was the Bread affirmed by His Father, therefore Himself.

“They wanted some further proof that the Father had authorised Him; He gave bread, yes, but it was not stupendous enough. After all, had not Moses given bread from heaven? Their argument was: what proof had they that He was greater than Moses? Thus, they minimised the miracle of the day before, by comparing Him to Moses, and the bread He gave to the manna of the desert. Our Lord had fed the multitude only once, and Moses had fed them for forty years. In the desert the people always called bread “manna,” meaning “What is it?” But on one occasion, when they despised the manna, they had called it “light bread.” So they now made light of this gift. Our Lord took up the challenge; He said that the manna that they had received from Moses was not Heavenly Bread, nor had it come from heaven; furthermore, it nourished only one nation for a brief space of time. More important still, it was not Moses who gave the manna; it was His Father; finally, the Bread which He would give would nourish unto life everlasting. When He told them that the true Bread came down from heaven, they asked: Give us this bread.

“He answered: ‘It is I, Who am the Bread of Life.’ (John 6:35)

“This was the third time that Our Blessed Lord used an instance from the Old Testament to symbolise Himself. The first was when He likened Himself to the ladder that Jacob saw, thus revealing Himself as a Mediator between heaven and earth. In His discourse with Nicodemus, He compared Himself to the brazen serpent, a healer of the sin-stricken and poisoned world. Now He referred to the manna of the desert, and claimed that He was the true Bread of which the manna had been only the prefigurement.

“Once again, He makes the shadow of the Cross appear. Bread must be broken; and He Who had come from God must be a sacrificial Victim that men might truly feed on Him. Hence, it would be a Bread that would result from the voluntary offering of His own flesh to rescue the world from the slavery of sin unto the newness of life.” (Life of Christ)

United to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament (Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis)

Dear Lord, when shall I be completely one with You and entirely forgetful of myself? You in me and I in You; grant that we may be always so and remain as one forever.

You are truly my Beloved. “Among ten thousand you shall know Him”; in You my soul delights to dwell all the days of my life. In You, the Lord of peace, is my supreme peace and real rest; and without You is only toil, sorrow and endless misery.

Truly You are a hidden God (Isaiah 45:15), and You have nothing to do with evil people, but You speak with the humble and simple of heart. How sweet is Your Spirit, O Lord, Who consents to refresh Your children with that most delicious Bread which comes down from heaven in order to show them Your loving kindness!

For what other great nation is there that has gods so near to it (Deut 4:7) as You, our God, are to all Your faithful ones, to whom You give Yourself as food and drink for their daily refreshment, and to raise their hearts to heaven!

What other people is so fortunate as the Christian people? What creature under heaven is so beloved as a devout soul into whom God comes, in order to feed him with His own glorious Body and Blood? O grace unspeakable, O marvellous condescension, O love without measure, bestowed only on human beings!

Anima Christi (St Ignatius of Loyola)

Soul of Christ, sanctify me;
Body of Christ, save me;
Blood of Christ, inebriate me;
Water from the side of Christ, wash me;
Passion of Christ, strengthen me;
O good Jesus hear me;
Within Thy wounds hide me;
Never let me be separated from Thee;
From the malignant enemy defend me;
At the hour of my death, call me;
And bid me come to Thee; That with Thy saints,
I may be praising Thee forever and ever. Amen. 💐💖🙏

Did you Know?

The Catholic Church has 21 different rites. They are broadly divided into Western (that’s us because our rite has come from western Europe) and Eastern.

There are 20 Eastern Catholic Churches. Among the largest and well-known are the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Church, the Romanian Byzantine Church and the Syro-Malabar Church.

The Eastern Catholic Churches are NOT the same as the Orthodox Churches because all the Eastern Catholic Churches are in communion with the Pope, the Bishop of Rome whereas the Orthodox are not.

Language and culture played a role in the development of the Eastern Catholic Churches and so, as we do, they use an ancient language for their liturgy that matches their history, for example, the Maronites use Syro-Aramaic; the Syro-Malabar rite uses Mayalayam. The ancient language of the western Catholic Church is Latin and so we are referred to as the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church.

Each church has a different way of celebrating the Mass but it is still the Catholic Mass. There is no uniformity among the rites but a diversity in unity of faith. But then, even our Latin Rite has six ways of celebrating the Mass: Novus Ordo Mass begun in 1970; Vetus Ordo Mass (sometimes called the Traditional Latin Mass) which goes back to apostolic times and Pope St Gregory the Great of the 7th century; The Carmelite Rite that belongs to the Carmelite Order; The Dominican Rite that belongs to the Order of St Dominic; The Ambrosian Rite that belongs to St Ambrose and the city of Milan. The Roman Missal: Divine Worship that belongs to the Anglican Ordinariates.

So, the Holy Mass is a diverse and beautiful reality that is much broader than just our own parish.

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