St. Maria Goretti

I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to get together with a classmate of mine from high school, and after we visited for a while, we decided to go to lunch together. And we got into his car to go to lunch, and there were all these Power Bar wrappers all over the inside of the car. I’m not talking about three or four wrappers. There must have fifty to sixty wrappers at least. He was all apologetic for this. It wasn’t that big of a deal. After all, all of us can have a messy car now and then. And then I noticed, that sitting on the back seat of his car, were two full boxes of these Power Bar things. So I asked him, “Hey, do you sell Power Bars, or something?” And he laughed and said that no, he just ate a lot them for snacks. Now, I don’t know how many of you have tried these Power Bar things, but to me, they taste like sawdust held together with sticky tree sap. Let’s just say that you won’t find any Power Bar wrappers in my car. Empty M&M’s bags maybe, but not Power Bar wrappers. But my classmate loves them. He said they make him feel “healthy”. So we go to lunch, and he orders a Fried Tenderloin, fries, and a Diet Coke. And then we get back in the car to go home, and he has a Power Bar, to “stay healthy”. I was like, “What’s wrong with this picture?” It takes more than just eating a nasty-tasting Power Bar to be Healthy. You can eat all the Power Bars that you want to, but there’s more to it, than just what you eat. To be healthy, you have to look at the whole picture of how you are living your life. My friend made it sound like the Power Bar was a magic pill to instantly getting healthy. And we all know that it doesn’t work that way.

My brothers and sisters, today we get our second Gospel of this Bread of Life series that we started last week. And St. John is reminding all of us this week how blessed we are to have the Eucharist. As Catholic Christians, the greatest treasure that we have is the One that Jesus gave us at the Last Supper, His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. We have the Holy Eucharist available to us every day. We can pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament, even when we can’t receive it. We have Jesus with us always, strengthening us, giving us peace, and guiding us in the Christian life. The Eucharist is the summit of our Faith lives as Catholics. And you’re not going to find the real Eucharist anyplace else. Other churches, other denomination may have what they call “communion”, but it is certainly not the Body and Blood of Christ. It’s a nice memorial. It’s a remembrance. It’s a re-enactment. But it’s not the real thing that Jesus teaches us about in John 6. You would think, that as Catholics with this extraordinary gift, we would be light years ahead of everybody else when it comes to our Faith lives. We should all be Saints. We should be setting the world on fire with our knowledge and experience of God. We should be converting everybody. But we’re not, are we? You see, we’ve got a problem here. And I tell you, it’s very much the same issue that I had with my classmate when we got together. It takes more to being a Catholic Christian than just eating the Body and Blood of Christ. For some Catholics, the Eucharist is their Power Bar. Oh, they march up here and go to Communion every week, but they never change their lives. You can’t really encounter Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, and NOT BE CHANGED! And guys, we’ve got some changing to do!

We need to be peacemakers. We need to take better care of the sick, the weak, and the poor. We need to take better care of each other. We should be helping one another to be better, especially by being good examples for each other. We need to stop gossiping and telling lies. We need to take seriously our responsibility to raise our children Catholic. We need to stand up for life and for its protection all over the world. We need to get involved and make a difference and do our part. We need to give back to God. We need to tithe. We need to come to Mass on time and we need to stay at Mass until the liturgy is over. We need to pray much more. We need to read the Bible. We need to go on a retreat. We need to grow in our Faith. We’ve got a lot to do. It takes so much more than just marching up here to receive Communion. It takes living our lives for Jesus. In fact, there are times that we shouldn’t be coming up here for Communion if we haven’t lived for Him. Just like with getting healthy, there is no easy pill, or bar, or food, that we can eat or take to make it happen. It’s conversion. It’s a process. And it’s time that each one of us kept moving and growing in that process.

The Bread of Life is Jesus’ great gift to us to nourish us while we are here on earth. We need this food in order to make the changes that we need to make. And yet, this Eucharist food is powerful stuff. You can’t stay the same if you’re going to Communion. And if you’re not willing to change, then maybe you shouldn’t be going to Communion. Think about it. Pray about it. Let’s keep growing towards Christ!

May God bless us today, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti … Pray for us !!!