John 6:60-69
Here in Trinidad & Tobago, as the national elections draw near we hear more and more tales of unbridled corruption.
The saying that everyone has a price seems to be true. Corruption has become a way of life for many. This teaches us in no uncertain way that when the human heart grows coarse, ways of life which should be normal become extraordinary and are easily rejected by the generality of persons.
In the gospel reading for this Sunday we see many of the Jews, members of the race chosen by God to be models of godly living, turning away from Jesus because of what they were being asked to do. In the Gospel reading last Sunday we heard Jesus telling the disciples that he would give his flesh and blood, in other words, his very self so that the world would experience eternal life.
He asked them to eat his flesh and drink his blood, i.e. to become one with him in this enterprise. He asked them to give their very selves with him so that others would experience eternal life. He called them to a life of self-sacrifice for others. He was in fact calling them to be faithful to the purpose for which they were chosen.
The hearts of many of them had grown coarse however and they found this a hard saying. “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” they murmured. Unlike leaders who are infected with the desire to be popular, and who refuse to take stances which are unpopular with those they lead, Jesus does not water down his message.
In the face of the desertion of many of his disciples, Jesus asks the twelve “Do you also want to leave?” Peter replies for the faithful twelve “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.”
Arousal in the male body is an amazing organism. cialis viagra cheap The joint affected by online purchase of cialis the pain is located just in front of the ear. Some of us have an generic viagra sale idea that the low cost medicine and will be highly side effective. Starting this year, the company leaders regrouped, hired a CEO and other top executives, and are looking sildenafil cialis to reinvigorate the brand. He tells Jesus, “We know that you and your message are the only ones to bring true lasting peace and we will dedicate ourselves with you to this task.”
Today, as it was then and as it has always been, the call of Jesus is full of sayings which the coarse of heart find hard yet the world is full of exemplars of people who have given their very selves for the wellbeing and the happiness of others.
Today we remember and we thank God for the great saints of our Church who gave up wealth and worldly honour to dedicate themselves to educating the poor, to ransoming captives from Muslim invaders, to providing health care for the poor sick. It was a hard saying for many (that is why so few did it in spite of the obvious need) yet those who had not grown coarse of heart heard the call and imitated Jesus in the giving of their very selves.
We remember and thank God also for those in T&T who have heard God’s call and given their very selves for the wellbeing and happiness of others – be it in Servol or among the Carmelite sisters working with the physically or mentally challenged, or in sports or other endeavours.
They all know that in spite of the hardness of the call, it is what brings eternal life [true happiness] to others and to themselves. Their lives show that the road to happiness is not selfish self-seeking but the generous giving of oneself to others.
Today as we live in a world in which forgiveness is more and more a hard saying, in which the call for unity is a hard saying, in which to make the waters of baptism stronger than the blood of the tribe is a hard saying, you and I – disciples of Jesus – are called to give our very selves for the harmony for which Christ gave himself. Like the faithful disciples we say, “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.”
LET US PRAY
All powerful and ever-loving God, the call to follow you is always a call to forget oneself and to be of service to others. This has never been truly accepted. It is a “hard saying”. Yet our faith tells us that following other voices and calls, other than that of Jesus your Son, can never lead to happiness because ‘he has the words of eternal life. He is the Holy One of God’. Help us Father to resist the temptation to seek the comfortable and easy, and to be certain that in Jesus and his message we will find the fulfilment which we seek. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and Jesus your Son. Amen.
