There is a profound liturgical action that takes place at the ordination of a deacon. After the bishop lays his hands on the candidate and says the prayer of ordination, and after the deacon is vested, the bishop hands the new deacon the Book of the Gospels and says, “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.” “Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”
Meaning - No one can proclaim the gospel unless he believes in the gospel and unless he lives these gospel beliefs. This is fundamental to all Christians – the message is for all of us – not just for the clergies.
“Believe what you read” – meaning - believe the Gospel – but of course – first of all – we need to spend time reading the Scriptures through which God communicates to us in a personal way. Second Vatican Council document put it this way: “In the Sacred Scriptures, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and talks with them about His great love fulfilled in Christ. In reading the Scriptures, we therefore encounter Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
“Believe what you read” - “Teach what you believe” - Everyone is called by Christ to proclaim His Gospel. All of us are empowered for this mission. We have the gifts of the Eucharist to sustain us. We have the power of the Holy Spirit poured unto all of us at our baptism and confirmation. We have the guidance of our Mother Mary…
“Teach what you believe” “Practice what you teach.” – Walk the Talk.
A father was giving a sermon to his teenage son. The teenager replied: “What you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying.”
Let us hope and pray that our children or anyone will not say or even think of saying that to us.
There is a phrase that goes, “You cannot give what you do not have.” It applies to all Christians.
When we live our lives in relationship and in communion with God, who gives of Himself to us, we become conformed to God’s grace and so we become channels or instruments of God’s grace and we ourselves become grace and when we in turn give what we receive, we find it multiplied beyond what we can imagine.
We are all called to give ourselves in loving service of God and others as a continuation of Christ. The word Christ means Anointed and we were all Anointed at our baptism and confirmation – We are the Body of Christ.
In our Christian service, others must discover Christ in us because if we are not giving Christ to others – if we are filled with our ego and self-centeredness and our own agenda; if those whom we serve are not encountering Jesus in us, then our service is simply not true Christian service. It might be considered only as good charitable work, a philanthropy, it might be empathy; but it falls short of genuine Christian service if those whom we serve do not discover Christ – if they do not encounter Christ through us.
Like John the Baptist, we must decrease so that Jesus can increase in us, so that our brothers and sisters are not cheated out of encountering Christ whom they secretly long to discover in each of us.
We need to realize that the presence of the Lord is not ours to keep for ourselves and for our own benefit and salvation. He is given to us so that we can bring His Love to others.
A lot of people nowadays, young and not so young are hungry and thirsty, so to speak, and have even lost sense of what life is all about.
The readings today help us recognize the gifts we have been given and the responsibility we have to give them to others. From our first reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah: “Come to the water, you who are thirsty. Come eat - you who are hungry. “
The second reading, from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, tells us that no one and nothing can take the Source of Life from us. “What can separate us from the love of Christ? Anguish, or persecution, or nakedness, or famine or the sword or Covid19 pandemic? NO. Not even death. Nothing can take Christ from us – But - We can reject Him. We are free to choose.
Our responsibility to stay united to the Lord has a deeper dimension than our own personal needs. We need to be united to the Lord out of a responsibility to the spiritual lives of others – so we can bring Christ to them and them to Christ.
People think of Christianity only in terms of good works to be done or service to be rendered… but that is not all. Yes - we are called to pick up our cross daily and follow Christ – which is not easy – to say the least… because to follow Christ requires our whole being.
But - as Christians - we are called to follow the highest ethic – the highest standard - that the world has ever heard… and, trying to do that in our own strength is like trying to feed five thousand people with fives loaves and two fish. We cannot do that and so, the Gospel offers us help.
We need to realize and experience the need of others. We need to recognize our own limitations and emptiness, our inability to help. And so - We need to go to the Lord, and He gives us the ability to provide. This is the Good News, the Gospel…for nothing can prevent us from being united to the One who provides for us.
How beautifully positive the readings are for today. God will always provide.
We have only to go to Him, stay united to Him, and we will receive bread for His people… meaning, we will receive blessings – the grace we need – not only for ourselves but for His people.
So – my brothers and sisters in Christ - Let us give Jesus whatever we have and He will multiply them for the good of others.
In Luke 4:16-20: Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free…”
Then Jesus said: “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Meaning – And the Word became flesh.
That is a call for all of us as the Body of Christ.
St. Teresa of Avila said it so beautifully: “Christ has no body now on earth but yours; yours are the eyes with which He looks with compassion on this world; yours are the feet with which He walks to do good; yours are the hands with which He blesses the world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
Like Jesus, the Bread of Life; like the Eucharist, our lives must be blessed, broken and shared and poured out in loving service of God and others.
Amen.
Aug. 2, 2020
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A
