Gospel: John 6:60-69
Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.” As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
Homily
I remember many years ago reading of an aspirant for political office, who made no promises to those listening to him. In fact all he did was invite them to join with him in the very hard work of building his nation. Other aspirants to political office made all sorts of promises and indeed one of those won the election. What the first politician I spoke about told the people was too hard, so many of those who originally were with him abandoned him. They sought the easier way to get what they wanted. Others stayed with that politician however conscious that he was the only one who was willing to struggle for the true integral development of all in the nation.
The Gospel reading given to us this weekend places us before a similar situation. Jesus has given his teaching on the bread of life in which he tells the people that unless they eat his flesh and drink his blood they could not enter the kingdom of heaven. Many do not understand, and so they no longer walk with Jesus; “This saying is hard; who can accept it? and “as a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” If many of the disciples refuse to continue walking with Jesus, there is however a core group who do not lose faith. Jesus asks this group, the twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answering for this core group replies, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” Why did one group lose faith and the other did not? Jesus gives us the answer; “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”
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We are being told of course that faith is a gift of God, but it is a gift that we can accept and deepen or it is a gift that can be lost.
Faith like most human attitudes has something to do with habit. While the initial grant of faith is a gift, faith has to be exercised and it is the repeated actions of faith or of our trusting God and his words to us that strengthens and deepens our faith. This can be very difficult in the modern world which has lost to a large extent the sense of the transcendent and because of the technological mindset tends to believe easily only what can be measured. In that respect, there are many statements of the church which are “hard sayings” for so many. The issue of birth control, of in vitro fertilization, the prohibition of same sex marriages, statements against capital punishment are hard sayings for so many and many no longer consider themselves members of the church because of these. The truth is that there are sayings which are hard sayings for all of us but will we turn our backs on the church and walk away or will we strengthen and deepen our faith by conscious adherence to church doctrine. When Jesus asks the twelve if they too would go away, Peter’s response was; “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” If we walk away because of what we consider to be hard sayings, to whom shall we go and where else do we have the certainty of finding eternal life?
This is how the saints lived, this is how we are called to live. This was shown us by the architects of Vatican II, many of whom we silenced in the forties and fifties, these were hard words for them but they did not do away, they remained with the church and were all justified in the end and what good they did for the church!
May God almighty help all of us to deepen our faith so that when the hard sayings come about we may opt to continue with the Church which gives us the words of eternal life.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, we ask that in your mercy you help us to deepen and strengthen our faith, so that in the difficult moments, when the hard sayings confront us, we will not go away but rather will remain, docile to the Spirit, confident that in our docility we will find the words leading to eternal life. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother and Jesus, your Son. Amen
