19th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B
1 Kgs 19:4-8/ Ps 34/ Eph 4:30-5:2/ Jn 6: 4-51
What is
heaven for you? For children, heaven is where God dwells together with His
angels. For teenagers, heaven is being with someone they like. Sabi pa nila, “langit sa piling mo!” For
families, heaven is living within a peaceful home. For couples, well, I don’t
know. It’s either the presence or absence of the other – that is probably
heaven for you!
We are
now on the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. We continue to read and reflect
on the sixth chapter of John which is all about the discourse on the Bread of
Life. Today, we heard the Jews murmuring about Jesus’ statement, “I am the
bread of life that came down from heaven.” They cannot accept such claim for he
is one like them. They know his parents. They know where he is coming from.
However, Jesus further claims that “not that anyone has seen the Father except
the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever
believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”
Thus,
we realize that when Jesus said, “I am the bread of life that came down from
heaven,” he is revealing to us the Father. He is telling us what heaven is
like. When Jesus invites us to partake of his body, we gain heaven for we
receive not just human life but eternal life.
Let us
remember then my dear friends, that every time we receive Jesus in the
Eucharist, we are also experiencing heaven for we gain eternal life. It is our
challenge then to truly make every Eucharistic celebration as an experience of
heaven. It is our challenge then to make every Mass as the moment of encounter
between heaven and earth. This we can do by shunning the vices and practicing
the virtues which Paul in our second reading enumerates for us. “All
bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along
with all malice. And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one
another as God has forgiven you in Christ.” Every time we celebrate the Mass,
we don’t carry with us bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling, for
these do not dispose us to an encounter. These vices poison our souls. Rather,
every time we come for Mass, despite our imperfection, let us try to be kind,
compassionate, and forgiving so that we can truly partake of the bread of life
that gives us eternal life. Ang Misa usa
ka gasa nga magdala nato dili bisan asa kondili sa dapit nga puno sa pag-asa!
Such is
the experience of Elijah in our first reading today. He complained. It was
better for him to die after all the things he has done. However, when he ate
the cake and drank water from the angel, he was strengthened. He experienced
heaven! He left the place and went to the mountain of God.
Friends,
it is not enough to simply make every Mass as a heavenly experience. Like
Elijah, we have to get up. Wake up from sleep lalo na sa mga natutulog na diyan. Late pa, natulog pa. After this
Mass, we have to go and meet God in our lives, in our homes, in our neighborhood,
in our communities, in our schools, in our workplaces. We do not fear for we
have been nourished by the Bread of Life at Mass already.
What is
heaven for you? Blessed Oscar Romero was the Archbishop of El Salvador from
1977 to 1980. After witnessing a lot of oppression from his flock, he began to
speak against it. He became a voice for the voiceless in society. Such passion
in defending the poor led to his assassination while he was celebrating the
Mass. Blessed Romero made the Eucharist a heavenly encounter not because he was
shot at Mass. But like Elijah, he went out on a journey to meet God in the
faces of the last, the least, and the lost.
What is
heaven for you? Blessed Romero once said, “Aspire not to have more but to be
more.” Every time we celebrate the Mass, let us be more Christlike so that we
can truly have an experience of heaven. And every time we go home after the Mass,
let us not aspire to have more but rather let us continue to be more like
Christ, the Bread of Life. Amen.
Photo taken from http://www.rabbisacks.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/heaven.jpg
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