· 19th (B), August 13, 2006
· Theme: Jesus Provides Us with Food for the Journey of Life

· Introduction:
· Article in the L. A. Times on Monday, entitled:
· Underwhelmed by it all, a multi-tasking generation is not easily entertained.
· A 13 year old said, “I feel bored like all the time, ‘cause there is nothing to do,” even though she has an array of gadgets, equipment and entertainment options at her disposal. She cannot ward off ennui.
· What nourishes our spirit and nourishes our children?
· What brings us LIFE?

· Readings:
· Food is essential to existence.
· This is why food is such a powerful symbol for our Spiritual Life.
· Just as human bodies die without food, so too the spirit dies without nourishment
· The story of Elijah combines both the physical and the spiritual aspects of food.
· Elijah was discouraged in his battle against the pagan idolatry that was creeping into ancient Israel.
· He had given up and wanted to die.
· Instead, God sent an angel to feed him real bread, so as to build up his strength for a 40-day journey to Mount Horeb (another name for Mount Sinai, the place where God first proposed the Covenant to the Israelites).
· By taking Elijah back to this holy place, the Lord renewed his spirit, just as he had prepared his body for the journey.

· Likewise in today’s gospel from the book of John, we heard the bread of life discourse through which the evangelist illustrates that Jesus, who had ministered to the physical hunger of the crowd, was also attentive to their spiritual cravings.
· Breaking open the barley loaves, he had nourished their bodies;
· Now he was breaking open the bread of his teaching in order to feed their minds and hearts.
· Jesus’ invitation to hear and to learn, to come to him, to eat and to believe so as to live forever is as timely now as it was 2000 years ago.
· All that is required is a hunger.
· All we need to do is seek and we will find.

· In our everyday lives – you and I - sometime we get lonely and blue and frustrated with the hurdles that we have to face continually.
· What brings us life?
· What revives our sinking spirit?
· What nourishes our souls?

· Personally, when the struggles of life weigh on me, I find comfort
· In admitting my fears and frustration
· In acknowledging the gifts I have been given
· In turning those fears over to the Lord and living the day – one day at a time – the best that I can.
· Jesus in Word and Eucharist brings nourishment for the soul.

· Not only do we as individuals face struggles and trials, but humanity in general faces burden that at times seem too much to bear.
· Presently it seems as if War and Terror are on every side:
· Daily we read about the deaths in Iraq
· For weeks we have been inundated with the horrors occurring in Israel and Lebanon.
· On Thursday we held our collective breath as we heard about the terrorist plot to blow-up 10 US bound airplanes in mid-flight.

· What do we do with the Terror in the World? Where do we find life?
· The article about the kid with ennui comes to mind.
· We all have lots of toys to distract us from what is important in life.
· We live in a world in which we hoard what we say belongs to us, and we despise those we do not understand.
· Somehow I believe that we need to move away from our limited self-focus in order to reach out to others
· To learn about other people
· To share our lives with others

· If we want to live our Faith, we must concern ourselves with others not because they are Christian, but because we are.
· We ask the Lord to help us to sustain one another – because we are the Body of Christ sent to make a difference in this world.
· We ask the Lord to sustain us with the Eucharist that we share at Mass.
· Food for the journey
· Food for our spirits
· Food for the Mission to spread the Good News

· May we never lose faith in God’s mercy and God’s love.

· Amen