Manna in the Desert - Corpus Christi

Manna in the Desert – Corpus Christi

Side Chapel - Church of Mary's Nativity, Nazareth

Whenever we leave loved ones for an extended period of time, it is customary for us to give them a memento that reminds them of our love and presence in their lives.  This token item is very often a picture or some object that reminds others of us.  In some way the object makes them present to us – their memory, what they mean to us, and the love we share from afar.  Today’s feast and readings reflect this theme in many ways.

While journeying in the desert the Israelites feared that they would suffer starvation and thirst.  In response to this need, God sent them manna each day.  Not only did the manna provide the people with the necessary nourishment for each day, but also it represented a pledge of God’s presence and care for his people in their pilgrimage to new life in a new land.  For this reason the people of Israel placed manna in the Ark of the Covenant alongside Aaron’s staff and the tablets of the Law.  These objects were mementos – reminders – of God’s love for His people, and they became God’s very presence on earth as the shekinah of the Ark. 

In reminding the people of Israel of the manna, Moses stated, “He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  The Lord Jesus will use these very words to rebuke Satan during his own temptations in the desert.  Jesus’ complete and total dependence on God during these trials in the desert stand in contrast to the grumblings of Israel during the Exodus. 

We hear echoes of this grumbling in the Gospel text.  Jesus had multiplied loaves and fishes to provide for the people in the wilderness.  This good deed is met with a large crowd who follows Jesus about the area, demanding that they have this bread always, just as their ancestors who had manna in the desert.  Jesus, however, connects the Exodus event with His own experience in the desert.  He would not give them physical bread, but His own presence will be His pledge to us.  We will survive our journey in the wilderness and desert not with physical food, but with the presence of Christ in our midst.  For His presence will sustain us against the temptations of Satan in the desert as we journey to new life in a new land. 

This feast of Corpus Christi reminds us that we are to become what we eat.  God had pledged his presence and care for Israel with the manna in the desert.  The Lord Jesus pledged His very life as His presence and care for us in the Eucharist.  Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we are reminded of His saving words and deeds, and His very presence comes among us just as the shekinah of God descended among His people in the symbol of the Ark of the Covenant.  God cared for His people in real and concrete actions.  The Lord Jesus cared for people in real and concrete actions.  Our participation in the Eucharist reminds us that we must do likewise – to become Eucharist for others and to care for them in real and concrete situations.

The act of God in Exodus was an act of providing food for a hungry people.  The act of Jesus in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes was also an act of providing food for a hungry people – an act that becomes the criterion by which we are to be judged on the final day (cf. Matthew 25).  Participation at the table of the Lord should then lead us to this divine act of providing food to a hungry people in real and concrete acts.  The Eucharist and care for the poor represent a fundamental truth and obligation of the Christian life.  We cannot pledge faith in the Eucharist if we fail to carry out its obligation to us in the Christian life, nor can we separate our care for others from our sacramental and spiritual life. 

As we discern how we might live out this Eucharistic reality and obligation of care for others in our own life, we gather together around the table of the Lord to be inspired once again to the live the life of God in being His presence and care for others in the world.  And we pray together for God’s continual help to live this life more worthily:  “Let us pray for the willingness to make present in our world the love of Christ shown to us in the Eucharist.  Lord Jesus Christ, we worship you living among us in the sacrament of your body and blood.  May we offer to our Father in heaven a solemn pledge of undivided love.  May we offer to our brothers and sisters a life poured out in loving service of that kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.”  

Come, Spirit of Peace - Pentecost 2014

Church of All Nations - Jerusalem

Come, Spirit of Peace – Pentecost 2014

The marvel worked at Pentecost by the Spirit of God, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, is that people from all over the Mediterranean region hear the Sprit filled disciples in their own languages.  What are we to make of this remarkable event, and what might such an event mean for us as followers of the Lord Jesus in the twenty-first century?

It is important to remember that the catalogue of peoples that Luke provides in this account have two things in common despite their diverse geographies:  they are all Jews, and they are all subjects of the Roman Empire.  Despite the differences that diaspora Jews had with Jews in Judea, the pilgrimage festivals united Judaism in their worship of the one true God.  This unity, however, was limited to Jews, who were a distinct minority throughout the region.  It did not extend to Gentiles, who were reluctant to convert to Judaism due to the requirements of male circumcision and dietary laws.  Nevertheless, such a unity provided a hope for 

greater unity among all peoples under the providence of the one God of all.

The Roman Empire provided another model of unity for people throughout the Mediterranean region.  The Pax Romana, or the Roman peace, was a time of relative calm where large scale wars were non-existent.  All peoples of the region were united under one realm.  Such a peace, however, was illusory and artificial.  For one thing, the peace was kept under military occupation and threats from the ruthless Roman army.  For another thing, people were required to pay religious tribute to the cult of the emperor as an outward expression of this ephemeral peace.  Only the Jewish people were exempt from such a requirement.

Despite the claim of Pax Romana, the people of Judea experienced little of this peace.  Revolts were frequent because the Roman occupation was harsh.  People were dispossessed of their land and impoverished in lives of hard, servile work that benefited only a few wealthy Jews who cooperated with the Romans.  People of the time knew the Roman peace was a sham, and they longed for a deep and authentic peace for themselves.

So, when the Spirit comes at Pentecost and all are able to hear the message of Jesus in their own language, we find therein the fulfilled desire of all peoples for true and lasting peace.  Peace does not come through coercion, nor does it come from the threatened violence of weapons and armies.  Peace comes to us as a gift of God in a mighty wind and the breath of Jesus, a gift offered freely and accepted freely in our lives.   It is a peace that comes through the ministry of reconciliation to which Jesus calls us to undertake as His followers. 

It is only through forgiveness of others, the putting aside of ancient hatreds, and the rejection of violence that peace can come to us.  This is the recipe Jesus provides to us in His teaching and in the life He lived while on earth.  It is a promise we can fulfill once we accept the Spirit of peace and resolve to live as Jesus did.  The fact that peace does not exist is explained by the fact that we do not forgive, we maintain ancient hatreds, and we continue to use violence as a solution to problems.  It is a scandal that Christians not only fail to live as Jesus lived, but also that many Christians attempt to argue that Jesus taught and lived violence as a path to peace.  We should not be surprised when people reject Christianity when such false forms of it are put forward as representative expressions. 

At the same time, when people see authentic Christian lives of witness to non-violence and peace that attraction to Christianity remains present in the world.  When St. Pope John Paul II walked into a prison cell to forgive his would be assassin; when Pope Francis washes the feet of a Muslim woman in prison – these authentic acts of Christ attract others because they emanate from the Spirit of peace who long ago swept across a small piece of land like a mighty wind and gentle breath of Jesus.

That same Spirit can animate our lives and transform our world if we would let Him.  As we gather together on this Pentecost, we ask for the Spirit to come upon us and make us ministers of reconciliation and instruments of authentic peace.  “Let us pray in the Spirit who dwells within us.  Father of light, from whom every good gift comes, send your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind, and by the flame of your wisdom open the horizons of our minds.  Loosen our tongues to sing your praise in words beyond the power of speech, for without your Spirit man could never raise his voice in words of peace or announce the truth that Jesus is Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.”