Sunday – Ordinary Time – Week 19 – Year B

Sunday – Ordinary Time – Week 19 – Year B

How many times has the weight of the world brought us to a place of darkness, the place of Elijah, where we say, “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life!” Each one of us has endured different difficulties, different sufferings. Immigration, separation, finances, sickness, all of these things weigh on us, and sometimes it is difficult to see the ray of light burning through the darkness. What path should we walk, is there any hope, my life is a mess, “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life!” But through grace we find prayer, and through prayer we find strength, and this strength has a shape, it is the Eucharist. Jesus Christ has given “his flesh for the life of the world”, for our journey through the desert to the Father.

Sunday – Ordinary Time – Week 17 – Year B

Sunday – Ordinary Time – Week 17 – Year B

Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish, and they became enough to feed five thousand people.  This may sound irreverent, but aren’t we left asking, “Jesus, why don’t you do this more often?”  Jesus had been healing the sick.  The Gospel tells us, that’s why the crowd had followed him there, but now Jesus works a miracle for the average joe, for those with everyday needs, food, hunger.  From healing the sick to helping the everyday man with everyday needs, our Lord was working miracles, but the Gospel doesn’t call them miracles, St. John calls them signs.  This sign, like all the miracles in the Gospel are being worked not only because Christ had compassion and wanted to alleviate suffering, but because he was teaching us something; they carry a meaning for all ages, they carry a meaning for us today.  In this miracle Christ was teaching us about the great gift of the Eucharist, and his plan for it to be distributed to all people for all ages through the Church.  The Eucharist is something upon which we can rely, to restore our dignity and enable us to do the Father’s will, but before we get into that, let’s get a wider view of what the Church is teaching us through the special arrangement of scripture being offered today. read more