YEAR B: HOMILY FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (9)

YEAR B: HOMILY FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: JESUS THE REFRESHING BREAD OF LIFE

BY: Fr. Cosmas Ukadike

HOMILY:

In today’s first reading we see the prophet Elijah refreshing himself with the manner which the angel brought for him to eat after a long day’s journey (1kings 19, 4).

And this same bread was to sustain him for a 40 days and 40 nights additional journey to Horeb, the mountain of God, where he went to seek rest and renewal (1 Kgs19, 8).

This bread which was presented to Elijah to eat was mainly a foretaste of the true and refreshing bread; Jesus the Christ. Jesus declares in today’s Gospel that he is the “living bread that come down from heaven” (John 6, 51).

The adjective “living” qualifies the refreshing nature of Jesus and his ministry.

Jesus the bread of life sustains us in being so that we may not die. This death has nothing to do with bodily dying which is inevitable.

The focus of the living bread is to refresh our souls to eternal life. That is, keeping us alive beyond this earthly and material world. Jesus insist that whoever eats of this bread will live forever- and he is that refreshing Bread.

Let us therefore consider receiving him today and all the days of our lives for the refreshing of our souls Happy Sunday And have a blessed week.

Fr Cosmas Ukadike, C.M.