Elijah went a day's journey into the desert,
until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.
He prayed for death saying:
"This is enough, O LORD!
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."
Elijah wanted to give up. But God said, "I got better things in mind for you, son," and gave him, enough to eat to allow him to walk 40 days through the desert to Horeb. That's a Survivor Man.
Horeb was God's mountain. He handed down the Commandments there. Jesus gave us the executive white paper on those: love one another as I have loved you. And so today, we find Paul describing our own journey to Horeb to receive the Great Commandment:
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling
must be removed from you, along with all malice.
And be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
So what is our food for the journey?
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.
Don't give up. Keep walking towards compassion, with the living bread for your sustenance. Accept no substitutes.
I really liked today's readings at Mass.
No comments:
Post a Comment