My friends, once again, we continue this week to ponder Jesus, our brother, as the “bread of life.”  He tells us in John’s gospel that if we eat of this “bread” that he gives; we shall never die.  Now of course; we know that he isn’t speaking about our physical deaths, but our spiritual deaths, a death none of us, as his followers wants to experience.

In one of Jesus’ other sayings, he went on to expound, “I want you to have life and life in abundance!” Jesus, as we know, was always about “turning things on their heads,” so to speak, asking us to be counter culture, especially when, “following the crowd,” was demonstrative of fear, selfishness and safety, as opposed to openness, mercy, risk-taking for the good of all—simply put, the law to love.   And in this law to love, our own life is lived to the fullest.

The adjoining readings for this 19^th Sunday are instructive as well in how we should attempt to live out, the law to love.  We get a sense of the “bread of life” in each one and as last week, see that the “bread” we are called to give, can be physical, spiritual or emotional.

Elijah the prophet, in the first reading from Kings; we find in somewhat of a depressed state—he has been ministering for his God and is tired—bone-tired and wondering whether physical death might be a better option than what his life is at present.  We see his God responding as God always responds; with care and with love—one just has to have eyes to see! Elijah, through an angel is given food and water and rest, not only once, but twice and it is our God’s constant care that allows Elijah to continue his ministry.

Looking toward ourselves; we might say the same is true.  Our care for others must always include ourselves.  I practiced my advice this week by taking a day and a half at Assisi Heights for a mini retreat.  It was very good just to “hole up” as it were, have quiet time for reading and reflecting and I came away with gratitude for all the gifts of my life, as well as being renewed to continue all that God has in store.

Paul, in the second reading to the Ephesians simply tells us to spend no time on the negative emotions:  bitterness, rage, anger, or the negative actions of harsh, slanderous words and all other kinds of malice. We are instead instructed to be kind, compassionate and forgiving.  Simple to write down, yes, not always simple to do!

I read an interesting article this past week in the National Catholic Reporter in the Young Voices section.  The article was commenting on a new book, entitled, Daring Greatly, by Brene Brown wherein she argues that we should follow Jesus’ lead and become vulnerable.  She makes the point of saying that “being vulnerable” is not being weak as some might think.  Being vulnerable is being willing to say that you don’t have all the answers and being equally willing to listen to another’s thought or opinion to get closer to the truth for all of us.

Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians seems to be saying that we have to trust more that laying our hearts open as Jesus did will bring about the hoped for result quicker and more amiably than the alternative choice. In other words; we have to “walk in love” as did Jesus.

And for those who aren’t risk-takers, “question-askers,” or are satisfied to make-no-waves; the temptation to criticize those who do take risks, ask questions and make waves will always seem a viable choice.  It was so for Jesus as we saw in the gospel today, and it will be so for us too—“we know your mother and father,”—how dare you claim to be more than you are?

Most of you are aware that the Rochester Franciscan Sisters elected new leadership recently.  At their installation ceremony on July 1 each of the new community ministers reflected on one particular word from their chosen theme for their time in leadership, “Living from our common heart.”  For my purposes today; I will comment on just two of the reflections.

First, Sr. Jennifer Corbett reflected on the word, “from” in her comments.  She spoke of coming “from” South Bend, Indiana, that her father was “from” American Irish descent and that her mother came “from” France.  Additionally, she mentioned that she has an older sister, Mary, and a brother, Phil.  She stated that this is “her tribe,” so to speak, and that with these pieces of information; we might come to some conclusions about her, right or wrong, just as the people in Jesus’ time did about him.  She goes on to say that just as he couldn’t be confined by his humble beginnings, we too can’t fail to do what God may be calling us to because we, “don’t have the voice, the strength, the position”—whatever we may come up with as excuses for not doing our part!

The second reflection comes from Sr. Mary Eliot and her comments revolve around the word, “our” as in “Living from our common heart.”  She uses the word, “our” as a jumping-off place to speak about our (Sisters and Cojourners) origins, giftedness and our future together as Franciscans, followers of Francis and Clare of Assisi and states in no uncertain terms that in order for us to do our best, what God is calling us each to, our “interconnectedness” is going to be most important.  She describes most beautifully what she means by referencing the story of The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams.

Most of us recall that this is a story of a velveteen rabbit that becomes real through the love of a little child.  In the character of the Skin Horse, who is real, the rabbit learns what it is “to be real.”  “It’s a thing that happens to you when a child loves you for a long, long time…then you become real.”

The rabbit wants to know, “does it hurt?” The skin horse answers, “Sometimes, [but] when you are real, you don’t mind being hurt.”

The skin horse goes on to say that it doesn’t happen all at once, [becoming real] and it doesn’t happen to those who “break easily,” or have “sharp edges” or have to “be carefully kept.”  And by the time you are real, “most of your hair has been loved off, your eyes drop out, you get loose in the joints and very shabby.”  The skin horse concludes by saying that “those things don’t matter…because “once you are real you can’t be ugly except to people who don’t understand.”

Mary Eliot concluded her reflection saying that for her, “to be real is to love another into being.”  My friends, each of us is called like Elijah, like Jesus, like Paul, to be real, to love each other into being through our willingness to be trusting and understanding of others, even when we disagree. We may lose “our fur” like the skin horse, become tired like Elijah, misunderstood like Jesus, but in all of this; we will have the peace of knowing that like those who came before us, we have been faithful followers of our God, of our brother Jesus.  Amen? Amen!

 My friends, today as last Sunday; we continue contemplating the “bread of life” whom we know to be our brother, Jesus.  We get this truth from both the Old or First Testament of the Bible in the book of Exodus and in the New Testament, in Jesus’ words—Jesus of course brings the message to completion.

Exodus tells us, “This is the bread our God has given you to eat.” In John’s gospel we hear, “You shall not be working for perishable food, but for life-giving food that lasts for all eternity.”  John continues, “Jesus is the bread that Abba God gives,” in which, “we will not be hungry or thirsty.”

Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians carves out for us, Jesus’ followers, just what following him will mean, “You must stop living the kind of life the world lives,” or in other words, our life in Jesus calls us to more! It seems to be about living, “in the justice and holiness of the truth.”

The readings for this Sunday call each of us to consider how Jesus was “bread” for his world and of how we are called to the same.  Sometimes the “bread” we are called to give is of a purely physical nature—people are physically hungry and must in justice, be fed. For us who are blessed with having enough and to spare of physical bread, the solution might appear simple—share what we have and many of us do.  The initiatives through this parish help us to do that; contributing to The Winona Volunteer Services Food Shelf, our monthly meals to Bethany Catholic Worker House and our parish’s yearly commitment of time delivering Home Meals during the month of February.

In Jesus’ life, he started at this level as well to meet people’s basic needs, but it was always about bringing them to the next level—feeding people’s minds, hearts and spirits. People—humans, our sisters and brothers need more than food for their bodies—they need the “bread” of compassion, understanding, justice in their lives—this is the “more” that was at the heart of Jesus’ message.  We can’t just stop with feeding people’s physical bodies, important as that is; but we must strive to understand why people are physically hungry, why some have more than enough and to spare and others are left wanting.

In all the times when Jesus fed physically hungry people; he gave in abundance and this was to signify the over-the-top love of his Abba God for all of creation.  God’s generosity and faithfulness through Jesus to creation was always meant to show us the way—the goods of this earth are meant for all to enjoy and whatever it is in this world that causes some of us to live well while others suffer must most assuredly be addressed by Jesus’ followers if the full kin-dom is ever to be realized.

Obviously, our world’s people are not, as Paul suggests, living as we should or we would not have people physically starving to death; we would not have countries warring with each other; we would not have half the world’s population still living under the tyranny of patriarchy both in church and state; there would be the justice that allows individuals to live fully and freely the lives that God created and called them to live.  Gender, life-style choices, religious beliefs that call individuals to different, yet unique expressions of themselves and their God would not be impediments to hold them down, but gifts to be celebrated from the God of us all—from whom we are all, “so wonderfully made.

Now this is a bit of a depressing picture that I paint, but I see great hope in our world as people are stepping up and forward to do that which is theirs to do—all those who are ministering on our southern border to say that our country stands for more than greed and arrogance, fear and selfishness—that understands people running from war and unspeakable conditions, in their own countries, risking their lives and their children’s lives to come to a land that in the past has always stood for the rights of individuals to know peace, freedom and justice in their lives.

On a local level, several interfaith communities, including our own, have said “yes” to being a part of the Sanctuary Movement here, in the pursuit of a higher law.  Every time we reach out friends, moving with our hearts rather than our heads, attempting to do what may not be safe, but what is good and right and just; we are being faithful to our brother, Jesus’ call, as his followers.

You are aware that the 15^th season of the Great River Shakespeare festival in Winona finishes today.  We had the good fortune on Tuesday night to partake in the yearly production of Callithump as part of the festival.  Webster’s defines the word “callithump” as a noisy, boisterous band or parade.  The production of Callithump always comes near the end of the season of plays in order that those who have seen the separate plays will better understand the subtle jokes and spoofs presented within it.

I have always experienced this event in the past as a very fun night of the actors letting their hair down, so to speak, after all the fine work of the season and just enjoying each other as they continue to entertain their audience in a less-scripted way.

This year, there was that, but I noticed a concerted effort to uplift the women in the company expressing all their wonderful differences as individuals and most poignantly, in a final tribute to the cause of women expressed this past year in the #MeToo movement. Great River Shakespeare women flanked by all their male counterparts proclaimed their independence, their rightness to be, that, “enough was enough,” and that no matter what anyone had said or done, they were and are, terrific!

My friends, whenever any one of us is not respected, is put down for who and what they were created to be; we are all put down because we fail to be who God created us to be, who Jesus gave his life to protect, the very image of the divine.  We are all called not just to see that people receive the physical bread that they need, but the emotional and spiritual bread as well.  Amen? Amen!

My friends, you may noticed over the Sundays, over the years, that I talk a good deal about the “bread of life” and more so about how we are to be “bread” for our world.  For the next 5 Sundays, the Scriptures will speak to us about the “bread of life”—this, in the face of a world, where millions go to bed hungry every night.  Men, women and children suffer from malnutrition—wars are fought over the right to eat—the need to eat.  There are those who question whether the earth can feed its people, yet in this country, farmers are paid to keep fields out of production.  Still, we hear stories about the bread of life and that we are somehow supposed to feed the hungry. This country is called the bread basket of the world.  How do we reconcile that with starvation around the globe and more importantly, in our own country, our own city—people not having enough food to live well?

As I prepared for this Sunday’s homily; I was recovering from having a tooth extracted in the previous week—I didn’t expect the recovery time to take so long.  As a result, this homily is one that I did six years ago originally and being that its message was still a good one; I decided to use it again with a few adjustments.

In our first reading from Second Kings and in our Gospel reading from John we see  situations that sound similar to each other.  There apparently is not enough food to go around. Then miraculously—something happens and there is not only enough food, but food to spare.  It seems that the miracle in both cases comes about through the hands of mere mortals—in their willingness to be instruments for the divine—in their ability to believe in something bigger than they could see or imagine.

In both cases, someone steps forward with some loaves—some fish—not enough but a start.  I believe it is significant that the prophet, Elisha and the prophet, Jesus don’t just miraculously bring food out of nothing but that in each case, bring food from the gifts of the people present.  A small gift given in faith, with love, has the power to grow and be not only enough, but be a gift beyond the immediate need.  There is always the chance, when we love unselfishly, for great things to happen.  We should not underestimate that power.

There is a story told that illustrates very well an example of someone going out of their way, doing an extraordinary kindness, that in the whole scope of the world doesn’t change much perhaps, but for one little girl and her family, made a great difference and truly showed them the face of their loving God.  It seems that a 14 year-old dog by the name of Abby, belonging to Meredith, died. Four year old Meredith was crying the next day as she grieved for the family pet. She asked her Mom if they could write a letter to God so that when Abby got to heaven, God would know who she was. Of course Mom said, “Yes” and Meredith dictated some thoughts for her Mom to write down.

Basically, she thanked God for giving her Abby in the first place and asked if God would watch over her dog for her now that she had died. In order for God to know Abby when she arrived, Meredith sent a picture. She postmarked it to “God/Heaven” and put on her return address so that God could find her should God want to write back. She put ample postage on because she thought it was probably a long way to heaven.

A few days later there was a package wrapped in gold paper on their front porch and it was addressed “to Meredith” in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it and inside she found a book by Mr. Rogers entitled, When A Pet Dies.  Taped to the front cover was the letter they had written in its opened envelope.

God sent a return letter telling Meredith that Abby had arrived safely—God knew her from the picture that she sent. God went on to say that Abby’s spirit is in heaven just like it stays in her heart—the book was for her to remember Abby by, and finally God said, “By the way, I’m easy to find, I am wherever there is love.”

At present, I am visiting a woman going through chemotherapy treatments for cancer in the later stages.  I was brought in to visit this woman in a local nursing home by a friend who remembered me ministering to one of her family members.  The woman undergoing treatment needed someone to help her process what was happening to her and to help make sense of it in a spiritual context.

We have been meeting weekly now for several weeks and what has come to this woman through our time together is that she has become more open to others and their suffering due to what she is going through.  She told me this past week that at the nursing home, she hears about many people who are going through some illness or other difficulty and she prays for them.  I affirmed this for her.

We began today talking about the need to share bread with the hungry—an ever present need when the known fact is that so many go to bed hungry every night—so many die every day for lack of food.  We are like the apostles—incredulous before the sheer scope of the situation—“what good is my little gift—my small offering against so many?”  But we must not forget the stories of Scripture today—God can and does perform miracles despite our lack of religious imagination.  We simply have to show up and do our part.

Sometimes we don’t know what to do to help, but we can always pray and we shouldn’t underestimate that power to make a difference, any small gift that we can give—just as Meredith was no doubt lifted up by the “angel” in the dead letter department of the post office who ministered to her, or my new friend sending her positive vibes out to others through her prayers.

These simple stories are cases in point for the fact that people don’t only need bread for their physical bodies, but for their spirits—the food of heart and soul. Again, we may think that we are not able to do much in any given situation, but don’t underestimate the power—the miracle that can happen through each of us if we are willing to show up and be instruments on this earth for our loving God. Each time we gather for Eucharist and we take the bread and wine into our bodies—it becomes Jesus’ body and blood for the world through our faith and the actions of our lives.  This is a wonderful power that Jesus gives us!

Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians basically says that, as children of the one God who is over all and works through all; we will be agents of God’s good will.  And do we have a choice about whether to do these good works?  No, we really don’t—if we say we are Christian and follow the prophet from Nazareth; we can only respond to the love given by giving back.  We are all, each of us, diminished when anyone goes hungry in any way—be it in body, mind or spirit.

At present, the struggle at our southern border still goes on as the attempt to unite parents to children, children to parents goes on.  We know people are suffering; for some the damage may be permanent and none of us can rest until we demand that justice is done for these people.  Our faith demands it—the memory of our brother Jesus demands it!

Whenever anyone in our city, our country, our world, suffers, we all suffer—because everyone is part of the body of the People of God. Sometimes, we are the one to suffer, sometimes it is others—but we suffer together if we have eyes and ears and hearts open.

Let us pray today then friends, that each day we would have the strength to show up and do our part, realizing that we each have great power to make a difference in the lives of others, in our world, by bringing the “bread” that is ours to share. Amen? Amen!