The Bread of Life

Dear Friend,

Over the past two weeks there’s been lots of conversation in and around the parish about the Bishops’ vote to prepare a document on the Eucharist. With some engaging in a public conversation on whether or not President Biden should be denied the Eucharist, the purpose of the document was called into question. The phrase “Eucharistic coherence” became a point of focus, as a guiding theme for the document. On June 21st, Archbishop Gomez issued a communication which reads in part:

“As bishops, our desire is to deepen our people’s awareness of this great mystery of faith, and to awaken their amazement at this divine gift, in which we have communion with the living God. That is our pastoral purpose in writing this document.” 

This week’s readings challenge all of us to examine how, each Sunday, we receive God’s word proclaimed, and that same word made flesh as the bread of life. The prophet Ezekiel faces a community “obstinate of heart” and “hard of face.” Jesus meets a hometown crowd who seem convinced that they know him through and through and that he is incapable of telling or showing them anything they haven’t already heard. Interestingly, we see Jesus experiencing his own sense of amazement, not at the divine presence but at the people’s lack of faith!

All of this might point us – rather discouragingly - to our rather meager capacity for any meaningful coherence with regard to God - eucharistic or otherwise. On the other hand, I see the possibility of a conversation in the weeks ahead about how we might respond more fully to God’s desire to be truly present to us and how that shapes us as a community. We are entrusted with a Franciscan legacy in a very prominent public place!

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan ofm, Pastor