Fighting! Stepping out of Despair

Homily: Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

John 6:41-51

8 August 2021 

Fr. Ricky C. Montanez, AA

“ECQ na naman!” “Back to square one!” “Wala na namang trabaho!” “Saan na naman tayo kukuha ng papakain natin sa ating mga pamilya?” “Kelan kaya matatapos ito?”  How many of us have heaved these sighs of frustration now that Metro Manila and many parts of the country are back on the strictest lockdown. As my friend observed… “It seems like a vicious cycle.” Some of us are at the point of giving up on the fight to end the pandemic. 

What we are going through right now can be likened to the frustration of Elijah in the passage from the First Book of Kings. He has lost his appetite for doing God’s work. Elijah is frustrated to the point of death. He has not been successful in calling the people away from their sinful lives. He has had enough. So, he calls on God to take his life instead. “So, Elijah calls on God to take his life instead. He prayed for death saying: “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” (1 Kings 19:4)

In this Sunday’s gospel something similar is happening. Jesus is also having a hard time convincing people that He is who He claims Himself to be. “How can he say, I have come down from heaven?” (John 6:42) The objection centres on the fact that they feel they know Him and are familiar with his parentage. How can He claim to have a heavenly origin when they are certain of His human origins?

Instead of being discouraged and frustrated at their non-acceptance, Jesus responds by saying: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.” (John 6:44) What Jesus is trying to say here is that it is only through faith that they can come to Him and learn to accept Him. Their rejection of Him is a sign that they have not been called by the Father since it is the Father, not we, who finds us and leads us to Jesus, the True Nourishment. It is only in faith that they would be able to see beyond Jesus’ human origins and acknowledge that He indeed is the “bread that came down from heaven.” 

Similarly, it is easy for us to be tempted to believe that God has abandoned us. It is so easy to succumb to despair in dealing with all that we are all going through lately. The readings this Sunday teach us not to give up. As the South Koreans often say: “Fighting!” “Laban lang! Habang humihinga, may pag-asa!”  We are reminded that the only assurance we are given is in our faith in a God who loves us and who does not delight in our suffering. With the eyes of faith, we see God in Jesus who continues to love us and provide us with what we need for our life’s journey. And for us Catholic Christians, it is also in faith that we come to see beyond the material substance of bread and wine as we receive our spiritual nourishment in the very Body and Blood of Jesus in the eucharistic feast we celebrate. 

When we lose our appetite for life, we are in effect grieving personal losses of freedom, independence and a perceived control over our environment. We tend to retreat into ourselves and fail to see clearly the whole world that is filled with hope, beauty and positivity. St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians says that we should imitate Jesus. He tells them that they should be kind and treat others with the same grace and generosity shown to them by God. (Ephesians 4:30-5:2) In so doing, we can become ourselves a source of nourishment for our brothers and sisters in need. When we make an effort to uplift others we simultaneously step out of our own despair. 

Sa panahong ito na marami ang naghihikahos dahil sa epekto ng pandemya at lockdown – BE KIND.

Sa panahong ito na tila walang katapusan ang pagsubok sa atin – BE GENEROUS.

Sa panahong ito na tila sinusubukan ang ating pasensya ng iba’t ibang restrictions para ang lahat ay mailigtas – BE STRONG.

The challenge for us these days of another hard lockdown is to respond positively, not with rebellion, murmuring and indifference but with a renewed sense of humanity, with faith and above all with hope, which finds its very foundation in the love of God that is continuously poured in our hearts.