21st Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 25.08.2024

 Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18 / Ephesians 5:21-32 / John 6:60-69

Generally speaking, people follow leaders by what they say and also how the leaders say it. 

So, one of the basic requirements of a leader is to be good at public speaking. 

They must also be able to give speeches that are inspiring and motivating. 

And whatever they are saying, they also need to say it with conviction and with clarity. 

And it is not only in what a leader says that shows the character of the leader. 

It is also what the leader writes that will be open to public scrutiny. 

With such demands and expectations, a leader can have recourse to some assistance. 

The rise and rapid development of AI (Artificial Intelligence) that can be of some help. 

We can input some requirements or a draft of a speech, and the AI would generate quite an impressive text. 

So the AI can be of assistance in giving a factually correct, as well as a grammatically correct text for our consideration in giving a speech or writing an article. 

But when we think about what Jesus had been saying in the gospels for the past few weeks, we wonder what the AI would do to it.

Jesus had been teaching about the Bread from heaven. 

He went on to say that He is the Bread that came down from heaven, and that He is the Bread of life. 

And anyone who eats of this bread would not die but live forever. 

And then Jesus says that the Bread He gives is His flesh for the life of the world. 

The gospel tells us that His listeners thought that it was intolerable language. 

And yet, Jesus didn't know explain or clarify or justify what He said. 

He went on to declare that the words He have spoken are spirit and they are life. 

After that, many of His followers left him and stopped going with Him. 

As for us, we come weekly for Mass, and we listen to the teachings of Jesus. 

We partake of the Bread of life that Jesus gives us, which is the Body of Christ. 

Yes, we believe in the message of eternal life and we also partake of the bread of eternal life. 

Others may not accept the message and that the Body of Christ may sound like intolerable language. 

That is a story of St. Mother Teresa who went around to beg for food for the children at her orphanage. 

She came to a bakery and approached the owner for some bread. 

But the owner of the bakery was not favorable to Christians, and he insulted St. Mother Teresa and spat at her. 

St. Mother Teresa then responded calmly: That was for me. Is there anything for the children? 

The owner of the bakery was stunned by her response, and realizing his bad behaviour gave St. Mother Teresa what she needed for her children. 

In life, we may be faced with intolerable language from those who do not believe in Jesus. 

Let us respond to that intolerable language with words of life and love. 

Jesus is a Divine wisdom and He has the message of eternal life.

Let us learn from Him to speak words of life and love, so that others will hear the message of eternal life.

20th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 18.08.2024

 Proverbs 9:1-6 / Ephesians 5:15-20 / John 6:51-58

When we talk and speak with others, the words and their meaning depend on the situation and the context. 

It also depends on who we are speaking with or talking to. 

For example, when we are in a courtroom, and we are speaking to the judge and the lawyers, we have to be precise and correct in what we say. 

To use the wrong word or wrong phrase may put us in a difficult spot. 

But when we are at a shop or at the market, we can speak casually and informally. We can even joke around and use slang and even switch between languages and dialects. 

So, how we speak and talk at a business meeting is different from how we speak and talk when we are at home or socializing with friends. 

Another consideration would be the topic that we are talking about. 

Some topics like health and finance would require precise and defined vocabulary. 

Other topics like recreation and lifestyles can be more flexible and informal. 

In the gospel, the topic that Jesus was talking about is bread, which is a type of common food. 

And He also said that He is the living bread which has come down from heaven, and anyone who eats this bread will live forever. 

That really made His listeners wonder what He was talking about. 

And while they were still wondering, Jesus made another statement that made them even more confused. 

Jesus said that the bread that He shall give is His flesh for the life of the world. 

For His listeners, that was beyond imagination. 

Because the reality of a common food like bread cannot be connected to the reality of human flesh. 

And yet, Jesus did not stop to clarify and explain about what He said and meant. 

Jesus said it as it is, and meant it as it is. 

As for us, we accept what Jesus said and meant. We believe that the sacred hosts that we receive is the Body of Christ, and we say “Amen” to that. 

But what does that mean in the reality of our lives as we come for Mass? 

Maybe this short story can help us understand the Mass as a divine banquet of the Body of Christ. 

Back in the year 1765, an innkeeper name Dossier Boulanger opened an eatery in Paris, and hung a sign at the door. The sign was written in Latin, in English it read as: “Come into my house, men of weary stomachs, and I will restore you.” 

That phrase was so successful because of the word “restore”, which in Latin was “restauro”,  and since then, all eateries worldwide are called restaurants. 

The word restaurant quickly became established, and reputable chefs who had worked for the royalty and rich families began to open their own restaurants. 

Many stories have emerged from that phrase, and especially the word restaurant. 

One of which is that those who work and serve in a restaurant has the mission to restore the spirit, the smile and the health of those who come to eat. 

So, the chef, or the cook, or the waiter or waitress, have that special mission of restoring the human spirit, the smile and the wellbeing of the diners. 

We have come to Church for the divine banquet, and we are served the Body of Christ. 

We come to be restored in body, in mind and in spirit. 

And we are sent forth on the mission of restoration. 

With our smile, with our kind words, with our good needs, we restore relationships with the love of God. 

Yes, the love of God that is in the Body of Christ's restores us. 

And we are sent forth in turn to restore relationships in our families, in our Church and in our world.

19th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 11.08.2024

 1 Kings 19:4-8 / Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2 / John 6:41-51

We need to eat in order to live and stay alive. Food is one of the basic human needs. 

Food not only helps us to stay alive, it also nourishes our body and keeps us strong and healthy. 

In other words, we eat to live. 

But when there is food in abundance, we won't just eat any and every kind of food. 

We will eat what we like to eat, and we will also be choosy about what we want to eat. 

So, we eat to live. But when there is plenty of food, then we will also begin to live to eat. 

Eating becomes a pleasure, and we want our food to be tasty, and maybe even look pretty. 

And we will have our favourite foods, and we may even travel to the ends of the island, to eat some reputable food. 

When we live to eat, food is no longer for sustenance. Food becomes a substance, which we will categorize into like and don't like, as well as tasty and not tasty. 

And of course, when the food is not to our liking, and not to our expectation, we will certainly complain. 

We complain, not because there is no food, but because the food is not to our liking, or not to our expectation. 

In the gospel, the people were complaining about Jesus because He said this: I am the bread that has come down from heaven. 

The people were expecting some kind of special bread from heaven. 

Their ancestors had manna to eat when they were wondering in the desert for 40 years. 

But now, that they have settled down, and their standing of living is better, their expectations were also higher. 

So, they were expecting some kind of special bread from heaven, bread that will be a pleasure to their taste buds. 

But when Jesus said that He is the bread that has come down from heaven, the people were disappointed. 

They knew Jesus as the son of Joseph, and He was too ordinary.

So, they cannot accept it when Jesus said that He is the bread that comes down from heaven. 

So, the people complained, because Jesus was too ordinary. He couldn't have come down from heaven, and they didn't understand this bread that He was talking about. 

As for us, we know and we believe that Jesus came down from heaven to be the bread of life which we receive at Holy communion. 

We ought to partake with thanksgiving and gratefulness that bread of life, because it is the bread of love. 

Jesus sacrificed Himself in order to give us that bread of life and love. 

We in turn are to be the bread of life and love for others, so that they can taste and see the goodness of the Lord. 

There was one lesson that I learned at home, and that is about not taking for granted the meals my mother cooks. 

I was eating away at lunch when my mother asked me about how is the food. 

I said “okay”, and then she said something like she thought I didn't like the food because I said nothing about it. 

Immediately, I learned my lesson, that I have taken my mother's cooking for granted, whereas I would compliment other people's cooking. 

Through her cooking, my mother offered me the bread of her life and her love. 

Let us take nothing for granted, especially when our mothers, or others, cook a meal for us. They have put in their life and their love to it. 

And may we also never take the Eucharist for granted. 

In it, Jesus gave us all of His life and His love.

18th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 04.08.2024

 Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 / Ephesians 4:17, 20-24 / John 6:24-35

The recommended amount of time for sleeping is 8 hours. 

For most of us to be able to sleep for 8 hours at night is like a luxury. Because, most of us may be sleeping less than that, maybe 5 or 6 hours. 

Besides, our sleeping time may also be interrupted every now and then. And at times, insomnia may also cut down our sleeping time. 

But whether it is 8 hours or lesser, we will know whether we have rested well by the state when we wake up. 

If the alarm rings and we have difficulty waking up, that already tells us whether we have rested enough. 

And if we can't even hear the alarm, and we oversleep, then we may need to do a check-up. 

But often, we are forced to sacrifice our sleeping or resting time because of the busyness of our work. 

We spend quite an amount of time at work. And even after working hours, we are busy with other matters like family and personal matters. 

So, we cut away our sleeping and resting time in order to try to finish our work. 

But no matter what, there will always be work, and maybe even more work to be done. 

But, we should pause and ask ourselves, why are we working so hard and tiring ourselves and yet not sleeping enough. 

In the gospel, Jesus tells us not to work for food that cannot last, but to work for food that endures to eternal life. 

And like the people, we too will ask, what must we do to do the work that God wants. 

Jesus gave this answer: This is working for God; you must believe in the One He has sent. 

That might sound quite simple, but let us not think that what is simple is easy. 

Because to believe in Jesus is indeed hard work. 

To believe in Jesus means that we have to carry our cross in order to follow Him. 

To follow Jesus is to follow His way of love. And that means to love others just as He has loved us. 

It also means that we forgive others just as Jesus forgave His enemies when He was nailed to the Cross. 

It also means that we put into practice what Jesus taught us. 

Like, praying for enemies; like, returning a blessing when others are cursing us; like, to give and not to ask back. 

And just as we will sacrifice sleep in order to get some work done, we too will cut down our prayer time in our busyness. 

But, Psalm 127 reminds us of this: 

“If the Lord does not build the house,

in vain do its builders labour;

if the Lord does not watch over the city,

in vain does the watchman keep vigil.

In vain is your earlier rising,

your going later to rest,

you who toil for the bread you eat,

when He pours gifts on His beloved while they slumber.”

Let us do that work of believing in Jesus by praying and loving God and others. 

And when we rest for the night, we will have a peaceful sleep, and we will wake up fresh the next day to keep believing in Jesus and loving God and others.