Pastoral Message – August 25, 2024
As I gradually get used to walking and standing again, I am really grateful that I can do so. I don’t think I will ever take that ability for granted. I’m also really grateful to everyone who has helped me get around during these days of healing from my broken ankle, and I’m grateful to all of you for your patience with me.
Looking at the gospel passage which we will hear at Mass this weekend, I see that it has my favorite question-and-answer passage with Jesus. There are several places in the gospels where Jesus asks a question; feel free to look through the gospels and read them. Each of these passages has important lessons for us.
The passage we will read this weekend comes at the end of the fifth week in a row that we have read from the sixth chapter of the gospel of John. Jesus has proclaimed himself to be the Bread of Life; he has insisted on the need for us to consume his Living Presence in order to live forever; and now many of his disciples are saying, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” As a result of Jesus’ teaching about himself as the Living Bread, many of his disciples stopped following him.
It’s important to notice that Jesus did not call those disciples back. He did not change his teaching so that it would be easier for them to accept. No, he let them go and then turned to the apostles and asked them, “Do you also want to leave?” I love Peter’s response: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
That’s really the bottom line, isn’t it? Following Jesus, and believing the teachings of Jesus, is worth whatever it takes. To whom shall we go, if we leave the Lord? It’s good to ponder Peter’s words whenever we are tempted to set the Lord’s teachings aside. To whom are we going? To our own selfish desires? To popularity among our peers? To the temporary pleasures of created realities, disregarding the One who created them?
Jesus has the words of eternal life. Let’s stand by him whether others do or not. Our prayers and example might be all they need to start following the Lord as well. The goal is for all of us to follow the Lord and to walk with the Lord all the way to the eternal life he offers to us.
Blessings,
Fr. Philip
