A Different Diet

Homily for August 16, 2015 (20th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Proverbs 9:1-6; Psalm 45; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58

A Different Diet

Sometimes it seems that one of the easiest ways to make money to write a diet book.  Sometimes it seems that the more unusual it is, the more attention it gets.  The advice can also be contradictory:  eat only meat, become a vegan; eat lots of fruits and grains, avoid carbs; eat a lot, eat very little.  Recent titles on a NY Times list of best sellers include:  The 20/20 Diet, The Fast Metabolism Diet, and (I'm not kidding) the 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse.

Jesus offers us an even more unusual diet:  his flesh and blood.  Even today, nearly two millennia after those words inviting people to eat his body and drink his blood were first recalled and recorded, they still have the capacity to jar us.  Although we may not quarrel or grumble as did some of the people in today's gospel reading, we can still have a tough time wrapping our minds around what it really means.

It appears that at last some of the crowds literally interpreted what Jesus said.  Of course, he was not speaking literally; but he was nonetheless "keeping it real" by promising:  "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in [them]."   When we share in Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we place our trust in that promise.  In the Liturgy of the Word, we come to the banquet of Wisdom described in Proverbs; and as we "advance in the way of understanding," we are able to more deeply "taste and see the good-ness of the Lord," which is all around us.

Over the past week, I have been blessed to join some of our younger friars on a visit to Southeastern Montana where a number of other Capuchins live and minister among the people of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations.  It has been a powerful experience.

When many people think about life on reservations, too often the first things that come to mind are poverty, addiction and other diseases, unemployment, frustration and despair.  It would be naive and even dishonest to pretend that those aren't things aren't present.  But it would be just as dishonest and even more unfair to think that they are the only things present.  In Crow Agency, Pryor, Lame Deer and Ashland one is able to taste and see God's goodness and grace in the rich spiritualties, histories and traditions of the people.  These are evident every day, but they are especially so in annual celebrations like Crow Fair.  They can also be seen in the wonderful facilities, dedicated faculties and staffs, and the generosity of the benefactors of St. Labre Indian School in Ashland and the other schools that are part of the St. Labre system.

They are borne out in the hope, hard work and creativity of the students who continue to overcome many challenges to make the most of their opportunities and give back to their communities.  In their own ways they are heeding the exhortation we heard in our second reading:  watch how you live.  In their own way, these young men and women are already becoming the Body and Blood of Christ, ready to nourish the world. +