Deep Within:
The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024
August 4, 2024
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Exodus 16:2-15; Psalm 78; Ephesians 4:17-24; John 6:24-35
We continue reading the narrative of the Fourth Gospel and the Bread of Life discourses. Exodus sets the stage for us as God provides manna in the desert for the wandering Israelites. The emphasis is that God is directly feeding the people and caring for their needs. The Jews of the time of Jesus know the story well, and they see the parallels between Moses and Jesus. The Gospel begins today with the people diligently looking for him, though he evades their search and ends up in a place they did not expect. Why are they looking for him? He is the real deal. He is the one who unites the people to God and shows them that God does care for their daily needs.
Perhaps the disciples search for Jesus reminds us of our search for God. We seek him in many places, times, and events, and sometimes God seems elusive and distant. Perhaps we speak to God in the wrong way or something we have done is the reason God will not come close. A reason we are often looking for God is that we are looking on the outside and in the distance. God remains an impenetrable mystery, and God’s action in the human heart and the unconscious world is also hidden. Our senses, our reason, our imagination, no matter how hard we try, cannot grasp the inner life of God, and so we continue to seek.
Perhaps we have it all wrong. We keep looking for God on the outside and as if God is quite distant. We try to do what we think is pleasing to God, but we sometimes objectify God, and therefore make God into an idol. We cannot see God just as we cannot see our own face. We see our face through photographs or a mirror, but we cannot look at our face directly. Perhaps, we cannot see God because God is far too close. God is within, and therefore, we need to look within. Perhaps we need more alone time or to spend time in silence in order to encounter the God whom we seek.
We cannot answer the question, “Where is God?” because God cannot be rooted in a particular place or located. God and the human person are intrinsically interconnected. Our discovery of God as the divine presence within ourselves reveals who we truly are: a people with the capacity to receive God. Jesus is the place where all humanity is invited and drawn into the incarnation, the union of human and divine.
When we see that God dwells within us, with a closeness we cannot comprehend, we realize God is within every person. The person we love and cherish and honor, God is within that person. The person we hate, God is inside that person. The person we fear or distrust, God is within her. The person who hurt us or whom we have harmed, God is within him. It changes everything around when we see each other person as a child of God or as a brother, sister, friend. It is time to stop searching for God on the outside and looks for God’s abiding presence within each soul. God will nourish each person in one’s own way. Each person is seeking the God who will offer nourishment, and we innately cry out, “Give me this bread always.” Jesus is place of encounter. He is present to unify our divine hunger with an encounter with the living, abiding, the care-giving God. Our faith in him gives life to the world. As we receive Christ in our Eucharist, let us remind ourselves how deeply interconnected God is within our souls, within each soul, and that God cares for each person across our globe. God is the impenetrable mystery deep within.
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (Jeremiah 28) “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will restore to this place all the vessels of the temple of the LORD which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took away from this place to Babylon.
Tuesday: (Daniel 7) Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was bright as snow, and the hair on his head as white as wool; his throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire.
Wednesday: (Jeremiah 31) At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus says the LORD: The people that escaped the sword have found favor in the desert.
Thursday: (Jeremiah 31) The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers: the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant,
Friday (Nahum 2) See, upon the mountains there advances the bearer of good news,
announcing peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah, fulfill your vows! For nevermore shall you be invaded by the scoundrel; he is completely destroyed.
Saturday (2 Corinthians 9) Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.
Gospel:
Monday: (Matthew 14) When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
Tuesday: (Mark 9) Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Wednesday (Matthew 15) And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
Thursday (Matthew 16) "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Friday (Matthew 16) “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Saturday (John 12) Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Saints of the Week
August 4: John Vianney, priest (1786-1859) became the parish priest in Ars-en-Dombes where he spent the rest of his life preaching and hearing confessions. Hundreds of visitors and pilgrims visited him daily. He would hear confessions 12-16 hours per day.
August 5: Dedication of the Basilica of Mary Major in Rome is celebrated because it is the largest and oldest of the churches in honor of Mary. The veneration began in 435 when the church was repaired after the Council of Ephesus in 431 when Mary was proclaimed the Mother of God. This is the church where Ignatius of Loyola said his first Mass and where Francis of Assisi assembled the first crèche.
August 6: The Transfiguration of the Lord is an historical event captured by the Gospels when Jesus is singled out as God's Son - ranking higher than Moses or Elijah. In front of his disciples, Jesus becomes transfigured, thus revealing his true nature. Ironically, the anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb occurred at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
August 7: Sixtus, II, pope and martyr with companions (d. 258), died during the Valerian persecutions in 258. They were killed in the catacombs where they celebrated Mass. Sixtus was beheaded while speaking in his presidential chair and six deacons were killed as well. Lawrence, the Deacon, is honored on August 10th. Sixtus is remembered during the 1st Eucharistic prayer at Mass.
August 7: Cajetan, priest (1480-1547), was a civil and canon lawyer who worked in the papal chancery. He later joined the Roman Order of Divine Love and was ordained a priest. He became aware that the church needed reform and he teamed up with the bishop of Theate (Gian Pietro Carafa) and formed a society of priests called the Theatines who lived in community and took monastic vows. They owned no property.
August 8: Dominic, priest (1170-1221), was a Spaniard who was sent to southern France to counter the heretical teachings of the Albigensians, who held that the material world was evil and only religious asceticism could combat those forces. Dominic begged and preached in an austere fashion and set the foundations for the new Order of Preachers for both men and women.
August 8: Mother Mary MacKillop, religious (1842-1909), who worked in Australia and New Zealand to assist the poor, needy, and immigrants to the country, was canonized on October 17th 2010. August 8th is chosen as the day in which she will be memorialized on the Roman calendar. I offer the following prayer:
Bountiful and loving God,
You have filled the heart of Mary MacKillop
with compassionate love for those
who are in need at the margins of our society.
Deepen that love within us
that we may embrace the mystery of the Cross
which leads us through death to life.
We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus
who having broken the bonds of death
leads us to everlasting life. Amen.
August 9: Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), martyr (1891-1942), became a Catholic convert from Judaism after reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila. He earned a doctorate in philosophy, but was unemployable because she was a woman. She taught at a high school for eight years before entering the Carmelites in 1933 where she made final vows in 1938. She moved to Holland to escape persecution by the Nazis, but was arrested when the bishops spoke out against the persecution of the Jews.
August 10: Lawrence, deacon and martyr (d. 258) was martyred four days after Pope Sixtus II and six other deacons during the Valerian persecution. A beautiful story is told about Lawrence's words. When asked to surrender the church's treasure, Lawrence gathered the poor and presented them to the civil authorities. For this affront, he was martyred. He is the patron of Rome.
This Week in Jesuit History
- August 4, 1871. King Victor Emmanuel signed the decree that sanctioned the seizure of all of the properties belonging to the Roman College and to S. Andrea.
- August 5, 1762. The Parliament at Paris condemned the Society's Institute as opposed to natural law. It confiscated all Jesuit property and forbade the Jesuit habit and community life.
- August 6, 1552. The death of Claude Jay, a French priest who was one of Ignatius' original companions at the University of Paris.
- August 7, 1814. The universal restoration of the Society of Jesus.
- August 8, 1604. St Peter Claver takes his first vows at Tarracona.
- August 9, 1762. The moving of the English College from St Omers to Liege.
- August 10, 1622. Blessed Augustustine Ota, a Japanese brother, was beheaded for the faith. He had been baptized by Blessed Camillus Costanzi on the eve of the latter's martyrdom.
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