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A WORD FROM THE PASTOR
Singer And Song Are One
A Churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to Church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons, but for the life of me I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."
This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to Church for spiritual nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"
When people heard the teaching of Jesus on the Bread of Life, they quarreled among themselves, asking, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Then Jesus insisted, saying, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will have no life in you" (Jn 6:53). When many of his disciples heard this, they said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" And they left Jesus and returned to their former way of life.
When they left Jesus, did Jesus call them back by changing his teaching? No, he did not. Instead, he asked his apostles, "Do you also want to leave?" No, they did not leave Jesus; they stayed with Jesus, believing in his every word. That is why Peter said, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). Like Peter and the other apostles, we truly believe in the teaching of Jesus on the Bread of Life. However, there are people even today who refuse to accept the teaching of Jesus on the Eucharist. Let us pray that they, too, receive the gift of faith in the Eucharist from the Lord.
There is a movie about a priest and a captain in the military service. The two of them have become great friends, but their views are radically opposed. The priest is a devout believer; the captain a lapsed Catholic and an atheist. The captain is mortally wounded on the battlefield, and at the risk of his own life, his friend the priest crawls to his side in a last, desperate attempt to save his soul. "Please", he is begging "Let me hear your confession, let me give you the last rites!" whereupon the captain answers him: "No, my friend, I love the singer, I do not love the song," meaning: "I love you, but I do not care for your religion."
Well, this may sound good in a movie, but it cannot really be done in our Christian/Catholic religion. In our religion, Christ cannot be separated from his message - the singer and the song are one. If you believe Jesus, you will have to believe he is the Bread of Life. They are not two entities, but One.
In the Service of the Lord,
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