Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Feed people from above: Daily Mass Homily--Wednesday, July 24th, 2013 (CSS)


            You probably know that the Israelites ate manna in the desert for forty years.  What you probably don’t know is that they were creative in preparing manna—they had to in order to keep their diet interesting.  Did you know they made mannacoti?  Or mannawiches?  Or, my personal favorite, mananna cream pie?
            Those Israelites.  They just came out of the Red Sea on dry land and are already complaining about their empty bellies.  Instead of seeking God, who is above, they desired to be filled from what comes from earth—the fleshpots and bread of Egypt.
            Our first reading leads us to consider how we must be fed on earth.  There is both a physical and spiritual way to ask this question.  Because we have spiritual ministers at Mass today I’d like to focus on the latter.
            People today are starving—and I’m not talking about food.  They desire to be satiated and seek all sorts of earthly means of nourishment—money, drugs, alcohol, self-help books and the like.  Yet as spiritual ministers—religious, priest, lay faithful—we must help feed people with what comes from above. 
            What comes from above?  The easy answer is God—and this is the only one Who can feed His people.  We cannot and should never settle for making our ministry about ourselves or any other mere-human affair.  The Eucharist is the food which we have been given to be fed and we must draw people to Mass.  The Scriptures—the seed planted on various soils—is God’s Word that can nourish, heal and strengthen. 
            As we strive to live our vocations to the full and assist in feeding God’s people, always do so by seeking the food that comes from above.

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