Wisdom flows from the Bread of Life in us
This week we celebrate the Feast of our Patroness St. Helena whose name offers hope for those that seek an image of God’s great love for all –the sign of the cross of Christ. During our 149 year history, our parish has been the home for immigrants entering into the Valley—I describe them as faith pioneers. The richness of our parish and country is based on hardworking immigrants. We join our Patroness as we welcome all in the name of the love of Christ and make room at His table and break the Bread of Life. We live the meaning of the Bread of Life when we strive to provide support for those who are less fortunate. Of course there is always room for improvement of our welcome, our outreach, and faith witness in our faith family.
There are no limits, socio-economic, cultural, racial, gender, and age, to God’s invitation to live life in Him. Our reading from the Book of Proverbs is one of the most beautiful invitations for hospitality and that reflects God’s great love—without boundaries/borders. The Proverb writer’s divine inspiration refers to God’s Wisdom as “She”.
“‘Let whoever is simple turn in here’ to the one who lacks understanding, she says’ come eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live’; advance in the way of understanding.”
The invitation to seek wisdom is one that calls us to be all that God intends us to be. Wisdom means more than knowledge and understanding; it includes intuition that God has placed in us and sensitivity of all that surrounds us. Wisdom calls us to look for the importance of events, to search for the lessons from God in daily living, to look for the meaning in our lives and that of others through the love of God and faith in Jesus.
Such a call to be conscientious of God in daily life—and the process through which we formulate our choices, is also expressed in St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons, but as wise…giving thanks always and in everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.”
Living a life in the name of Jesus means that we look beyond our individual needs. Faith in Jesus does not begin by asserting entitlement or limitations on those whom we accept in our community and faith home. Jesus invites us, first of all, into a personal relationship with him so that we can be him in the world.
“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”
His life within us demands a personal conviction to live him——in all that we do. Living him does not mean that the path will be made easy; it will be more peace-filled. For we know that Jesus has shared our life, knows the temptations, trials and tribulations, and he took all those things on to reveal an immense love for us—for all of us.
Once we accept His life in us, receive his strength for our journey and the courage to make right choices, our vision grows wider as we see clearly what we must do as Christians in the world.
For strength and encouragement, wisdom in right choices, we turn to the Lord to be fed and we know that His Eucharist does not make us better than anyone else, but makes us better for everyone else. We are to extend the graces we receive and do the work of the Lord daily—in a covenant of love that has no boundaries. As He says:
“The Bread that I give is for the world…” His Bread of Life is meant to be shared. Look around for those graces and opportunities he gives us to share—and do so:
- whether it is physical food for those in need,
- spiritual food by our works of mercy and open welcome
- food for thought to ponder what is going on in our world and how to help make it better,
- food for encouragement to those who despair,
- The food for justice to overcome the ills that surround us
- The food of prayer for those who cannot come to the table with us
There are limitless ways we can work to help the Lord feed His Bread of Life. Live wisdom and act on many ways and opportunities that he gives us–for sharing helps us to become what we receive—the Body of Christ. Fr. Gordon