"I am the bread of life" - Homily 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B (8-5-2012) - Fr. Linh
Uploaded by frlinh on 02.08.2012
Transcript:
Welcome everyone
to the program IN THE BEGINNING
I am Fr. Linh
Today we celebrate
the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year B
Our Gospel passage is from Saint John,
chapter six,
verse twenty-four to thirty-five.
Everyone has his reasons for doing something.
A man was told
that he must have an emergency appendectomy.
It is the surgical removal of the appendix.
He grumbled to the doctor,
"When God gave man an appendix,
there must
have been some reason for it."
"Oh, there is,"
the doctor replied.
"God gave you that appendix
to help me put my son through college."
Throughout the gospels, we often find many people around Jesus.
Many of them came to hear Christ's message
because
he was somewhat of a
celebrity.
But when they actually heard the message,
they walked away,
uninterested.
Others might have followed Jesus
because he was a miracle worker
not because he was the Son of God.
In last Sunday's Gospel,
Jesus had performed the miracle
of the loaves
and the fish,
and the people had been impressed.
They wanted to take Jesus
and FORCE him to be their king!
But Jesus managed
to slip off by himself,
and the disciples
got back into their boat
and set sail across the lake.
The next morning
when the crowd woke up,
they discovered
that Jesus had escaped them,
so they started looking for him.
Eventually
they caught up with him.
But Christ
was not
happy with them,
and he told them point-blank:
"I say to you,
you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves
and were filled."
In other words,
He knew that they just
wanted another
free meal.
And a lot of us
look to Jesus
for a
free meal.
A lot of us
look to Jesus
for solving problems.
That is,
many people come to Jesus
for the wrong reasons.
We want to know what Jesus can do for us
instead
of what we can do for Jesus.
Many people
look for Jesus
for all
the wrong reasons.
And this is why some Christians
drop out their religious practices.
They come for their own reasons
like the doctor
in the joke above
only to see his patients
as the mean to fill his pockets.
But when they find out
that they will not get what they thought they would,
or God
cannot help fill their bellies with bread,
they lose interest.
But what exactly do we get out of faith?
If not bread for our bellies
or money for our pockets,
then what?
Jesus told the crowd
who wanted more of him,
"Do not work
for food that perishes
but for the food
that endures for eternal life."
What we get out of the Christian faith
is a change of life.
If you come to Christ seeking material prosperity,
you are in the wrong place.
Find a good job
or buy lottery tickets instead.
If you are looking for someone to give you simple solutions to complex
problems,
search on ehow.com
or books of helpful-tips.
Christian faith
is about a complete change in orientation
from me
to others,
from the temporal to the eternal,
from my will
to God's will.
It's sad
to say
that many people come to Jesus for the wrong reasons.
They seek
to flee responsibility
rather than to take up a cross.
Giving your life to Christ involves allowing him
to make some real changes
in our life.
It seems to be a big challenge,
but here is the good news
for the day:
Jesus himself
gives us power to make those changes.
The people
again asked Jesus a question,
"What can we do
to accomplish the works of God?"
Jesus' answer was simple
and to the point,
"This is the work of God,
that you believe
in the one he sent."
He asks us to believe in him,
for he said
I am the bread of life."
"Whoever comes to me
will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me
will never thirst."
In other words,
when Christ sets us
on the journey of faith,
he gives us food
for the journey:
he himself
especially in the Eucharist.
We need bread,
but not the kind of bread
that we can eat
or spend.
We need the bread
which is Christ.
Again, many people come to Christ for the wrong reasons.
They want Christ to do something for them.
They never understand
that coming to Christ is an act of surrender.
We allow Christ
to do for us
not what we want
but what he wants.
Then
we find
power to make a new beginning.
"I am
the bread of life," he said.
"Whoever comes to me
will never be hungry again."
Let us pray,
"Lord,
help me to come to you always
for you are the bread of life."
One more time,
"Lord,
help me to come to you always
for you are the bread of life."
Thank you for listening.
Please visit my website
at www.FATHERLINH.com.
dot com
May God bless you.
to the program IN THE BEGINNING
I am Fr. Linh
Today we celebrate
the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year B
Our Gospel passage is from Saint John,
chapter six,
verse twenty-four to thirty-five.
Everyone has his reasons for doing something.
A man was told
that he must have an emergency appendectomy.
It is the surgical removal of the appendix.
He grumbled to the doctor,
"When God gave man an appendix,
there must
have been some reason for it."
"Oh, there is,"
the doctor replied.
"God gave you that appendix
to help me put my son through college."
Throughout the gospels, we often find many people around Jesus.
Many of them came to hear Christ's message
because
he was somewhat of a
celebrity.
But when they actually heard the message,
they walked away,
uninterested.
Others might have followed Jesus
because he was a miracle worker
not because he was the Son of God.
In last Sunday's Gospel,
Jesus had performed the miracle
of the loaves
and the fish,
and the people had been impressed.
They wanted to take Jesus
and FORCE him to be their king!
But Jesus managed
to slip off by himself,
and the disciples
got back into their boat
and set sail across the lake.
The next morning
when the crowd woke up,
they discovered
that Jesus had escaped them,
so they started looking for him.
Eventually
they caught up with him.
But Christ
was not
happy with them,
and he told them point-blank:
"I say to you,
you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves
and were filled."
In other words,
He knew that they just
wanted another
free meal.
And a lot of us
look to Jesus
for a
free meal.
A lot of us
look to Jesus
for solving problems.
That is,
many people come to Jesus
for the wrong reasons.
We want to know what Jesus can do for us
instead
of what we can do for Jesus.
Many people
look for Jesus
for all
the wrong reasons.
And this is why some Christians
drop out their religious practices.
They come for their own reasons
like the doctor
in the joke above
only to see his patients
as the mean to fill his pockets.
But when they find out
that they will not get what they thought they would,
or God
cannot help fill their bellies with bread,
they lose interest.
But what exactly do we get out of faith?
If not bread for our bellies
or money for our pockets,
then what?
Jesus told the crowd
who wanted more of him,
"Do not work
for food that perishes
but for the food
that endures for eternal life."
What we get out of the Christian faith
is a change of life.
If you come to Christ seeking material prosperity,
you are in the wrong place.
Find a good job
or buy lottery tickets instead.
If you are looking for someone to give you simple solutions to complex
problems,
search on ehow.com
or books of helpful-tips.
Christian faith
is about a complete change in orientation
from me
to others,
from the temporal to the eternal,
from my will
to God's will.
It's sad
to say
that many people come to Jesus for the wrong reasons.
They seek
to flee responsibility
rather than to take up a cross.
Giving your life to Christ involves allowing him
to make some real changes
in our life.
It seems to be a big challenge,
but here is the good news
for the day:
Jesus himself
gives us power to make those changes.
The people
again asked Jesus a question,
"What can we do
to accomplish the works of God?"
Jesus' answer was simple
and to the point,
"This is the work of God,
that you believe
in the one he sent."
He asks us to believe in him,
for he said
I am the bread of life."
"Whoever comes to me
will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me
will never thirst."
In other words,
when Christ sets us
on the journey of faith,
he gives us food
for the journey:
he himself
especially in the Eucharist.
We need bread,
but not the kind of bread
that we can eat
or spend.
We need the bread
which is Christ.
Again, many people come to Christ for the wrong reasons.
They want Christ to do something for them.
They never understand
that coming to Christ is an act of surrender.
We allow Christ
to do for us
not what we want
but what he wants.
Then
we find
power to make a new beginning.
"I am
the bread of life," he said.
"Whoever comes to me
will never be hungry again."
Let us pray,
"Lord,
help me to come to you always
for you are the bread of life."
One more time,
"Lord,
help me to come to you always
for you are the bread of life."
Thank you for listening.
Please visit my website
at www.FATHERLINH.com.
dot com
May God bless you.