18th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – usus recentior
3 & 4 August 2024
God provides for us, body and soul
I was pleased to spend some time with good friends recently. They have small children, the elder of them is now saying the Lord’s Prayer before bed. It was a very natural time of prayer, without being a pageant for the coming of Father to the home. The prayer was well begun, even included the word “trespasses”; when the child came to “give us this day our daily bread”, though, the mite stopped, turned to his parents and said, “Did Jesus give me food today?” Thereafter followed a simple, and accurate, catechesis on God’s Providence – all the food had today was given by Jesus, Who even provided today’s chicken nuggets. Satisfied with the response, the Lord’s Prayer continued.
In some ways, the material needs – of bread, chicken nuggets and such like – were a concern of the Hebrews wandering in the desert. They complain to Moses and his brother, Aaron, that compared to the provision they had in slavery, their meagre living now, albeit free, was not much desired. They were happy to turn back on their course, reminiscing about the onions of Egypt, which at least were reliably given. And so Moses entreats the Lord to hear the needs of His people, and the Lord gave them bread from heaven. The manna – the “what is it” – fulfilled their natural, material, bodily needs. But this act of God’s Providence was the first movement in the symphony of His love.
God, Who had never abandoned His people, setting them free from temporal slavery and now feeding them with passing food, would remind the Chosen People in an intense, incarnational way that His provision for them was not simply one of the body, of passing generosity, but one that demanded a cosmic, eternal and enduring response. And so, in response to the privation that is sin, towards a people wandering in the desert of laws, disordered desires and an incomplete revelation of God’s nature, God Himself comes to feed His people. Here, the “what is it” of the manna is replaced with the “Who is it” – “Is this not the Carpenter’s Son?” “Who is this man Who can order the sea to be still, and it obeys Him?” “They were amazed because He taught them as One Who had authority.” “Did not our hearts burn within us as He explained the Scriptures to us?”
What was the nature of God’s provision now? It was certainly material – Jesus had compassion on the people, and fed the multitude, literally enlarging the gift of a few loaves and fish. But His provision included in a new way the spiritual good of the wandering people, Whose hearts demanded to be satisfied. “I am the bread of life,” Our Lord would remind the earth-bound minds. “And he who eats of this bread will live forever.” God’s provision in this new gift was not caught up in the natural cycle – now tainted by sin – of simple life and death. Rather, in Christ Jesus, a new Promised Land is made realisable in His Very Person; Heaven would not simply be a place to be, but an enduring experience made accessible by the God-Man, Who promised to give us His flesh to eat.
Saint Paul would reflect on this reality, too. It wasn’t as though God simply gave us what we needed in this life to keep skin and bone together. The Lord’s provision now was far more intimate than His previous gifts: because it was now the gift of His Very Self, we are able to be drawn into very mystery of God – through Christ Jesus – giving up an old way of living, and choosing (with the supernatural help of God’s grace) to be a new creation, refusing to be carried away by illusory desires so focused on the here-and-now. Rather, being fed with the gift of God’s Own life in the Most Holy Eucharist, we become more than wanderers, more than servants; we enter into the very life of God, being invited to be His friends if we do what He commands. We can’t live the same way we used to live if we truly want to enter into this bond of love with the Lord; our lives must change so that we can truly receive the eternal life which God offers to us.
We could ask, as the Jews did, “What is the work of God?” What does this gift of the Lord demand of us?
- Do this in Memory of Me
To participate with love, and with great devotion, in the Offering of Holy Mass continues to unite us – for whom God continues to make provision – to the life of the Lord. To make the Mass the centre of our lives is a privilege and opportunity of Catholics. There is so much other clutter in our lives; here, God is truly present. We could ask of the Lord what the Jews asked of Him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” And He would answer us that He has been present, in the Tabernacle, awaiting our love. When we’re away from town, or on holiday, too, the importance of Holy Mass should shine through in our itinerary: we can’t have a theoretical love of the Mass. It must be a love that changes our day, our plans and the way we live. We prefer the Mass to the monuments; we come first to the pews and then to the pools. And, having been here, we try (earnestly) to live differently. Not only must we prioritise the Mass, but we need to prioritise living in such a way that the effects of this Sacrifice are evident in all we do.
- Give priority to the spiritual life
Related to this priority given to the Mass is the general spiritual counsel of making sure that the spiritual life is optimally sought out. Without giving in to the demands of our deceitful flesh (to which the Lord gives ample provision), we should “seek first the kingdom”, preferring that which is eternal and enduring. We might think of this differently: we could offer less value to the food, and turn our minds to the Real Giver. This is not Moses, or any worldly power: it is the Lord Himself Who is ever-generous to us. And so we should be generous towards Him. Neglecting the spiritual life will make us dry; even our material existence will wither and suffer. We must never neglect our daily prayers; we should always say grace before meals – even in public, making the Sign of the Cross with love. Our lives, which give first place to the spiritual goods, will soon reflect the true order in which the Lord has willed us to grow. Our life is not simply about skin and bone; the invisible realities penetrate every part of who we are, giving direction to every part of who we are. But God, and His commands, first – and then everything else, which is needful for our salvation, will be given to us.
- Make offerings to the Lord, Who has offered Himself for us
In response to the Lord’s provision for us, and His great Self-Offering at the Mass, are we not called to make little offerings every day in honour of His love? These moments, which should not be reserved only for Holy Lent, make us mindful of the Lord’s love, which has been shown in its full extent in Christ on the Cross and in the Last Supper. To give up a little for God – a fast from food, to refrain from having the last word, to accept the slights of others – merits great reward from the Divine Majesty.
It is right for us to add to this reflection of making sacrifices to God the idea of making acts of reparation to the Lord for blasphemies, especially against His Holy Name and the Most Holy Eucharist. This is poignant at the moment when the world saw displays at the Olympic opening ceremony that included deplorable blasphemies against the Holy Eucharist and the Last Supper. These allusions, or even obvious slights against the Truth of God’s love, demand a response from us: to pray for those who persecute us, blaspheme the Lord and make mockery of those mysteries which are so beloved by us. In acts of reparation, we offer to the Lord the love which others refuse to offer to Him; justice demands that something is done to make amends to the Divine Majesty. And so, our love for the Lord, Who makes provision for us materially and spiritually, demands of us that we honour Him even when others refuse.
May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.
GOLDEN ARROW PRAYER
Given by Our Lord to Sr Mary of St Peter