Rev. James A. Wallace, C.Ss.R.

Jan 30 2025

Eat, Drink, Live

As a boy, I was often sent to Kauder’s Bakery on the corner of Preston and Ensor Streets in Baltimore. There was nothing like the variety of breads today, but whether it was white, rye, or Vienna, the smell of fresh baked bread and especially the crunch of the crust stays with me more than sixty years later.

Kauder’s came to mind after reading today’s Gospel. Biblical scholars point out that the crowds would have been appalled at Jesus’ words: “Unless you eat the flesh of the son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” The word used for “eat” is a very physical word, the equivalent of munching or chewing. To hear “eat my flesh” would have been repulsive. An invitation to cannibalism! The same with “drink my blood.” Jewish law was very clear that no blood should remain in any animal slaughtered for eating. Blood was the “seat of life” and life belonged only to God.

But this is precisely the point. Behind this “sign” is God’s wondrous life-giving plan: to bring us into intimate communion when we partake of the very life of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. We are not to get drunk on the wine of this world but on the divinized drink of everlasting life. Not mundane manna but the bread that mediates an encounter with the Lord of our salvation. This is truly Wisdom’s house, where we eat both the bread of God’s word and the bread that is the Lamb of God.

Consider/Discuss

Can you appreciate the shocking impact of Jesus’ words on those listening?
Do these words have any impact on you or have they become too familiar to shock?

Responding to the Word

Lord Jesus, you call us to the banquet table to eat the food that will nourish us for eternal life, bringing us into communion with you, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Give us an appetite for this food you so generously offer. May we not turn away from it for other food that neither nourishes nor satisfies.

Jan 30 2025

Even Prophets Get the Blues

A favorite aunt once said to me, “We are living too long.” Her words stemmed from heart congestion that had sent her again and again to the hospital to have fluid drained from her lungs.

She was tired of it all and weary of life. She was having an Elijah moment. The prophet Elijah became weary of life. His recent work had brought on the wrath of the infamous Queen Jezebel (for the story, read 1 Kings 18:1 — 19:3), and she wanted his head. So Elijah goes out to the desert, asking God to let him die. But God still had work for him and dispatched an angel with food, drink, and a message: “Get up, eat, and move on. You’re not finished yet.” And Elijah found he had enough strength to walk for forty days to meet God on Mount Horeb. (My aunt also found she had the strength to go on.)

All of this goes to prove that God is the One in charge.

Jesus tells the Jews that his Father is in charge and that, if they listen to the Father, they will learn that he sent Jesus to bring eternal life. They think they know who Jesus is, reducing him to “the son of Joseph.” But Jesus is making it clear who he is to those murmuring and to us who might murmur: the One sent by the Father, who will raise us up on the last day, who has seen the Father, who is the bread of life.

Consider/Discuss

Have you had any “Elijah moments” lately?
Where did Elijah get his strength to go on?
Did you recognize who gave it to him?

Responding to the Word

Father, we ask you for whatever strength we need to do the work you have given us to do. Send your Spirit into our hearts to remove any bitterness, anger, or malice that has taken up residence there. Help us to be imitators of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Jan 30 2025

What Are You Eating?

Israel’s complaining can sound childish to us. Did the people really think that the God who brought them out of Egypt with such great signs and wonders was going to let them die? But God responds graciously to their complaints with a diet of manna in the morning and quail at suppertime. Scholars say the manna (the word means “What-is-this?”) was an excretion of desert insects, a kind of “bug juice.” Whatever it was, it came faithfully until Israel entered the Promised Land. Israel had to learn to trust God and eat what was put before them.

The Letter to the Ephesians speaks of “learning Christ,” learning the truth that is in Jesus, indeed, that is Jesus. Learning Christ calls for a different way of living, being made new “in the spirit of your minds,” and “putting on a new self.” We are talking about a different perspective on life. To learn Christ is to accept him as the one sent by the Father, the one who feeds our deepest hunger for the wisdom that brings life to our world. It’s another way of eating what is set before us.

John’s Gospel calls us to absorb into our minds and hearts the wisdom of the signs Jesus offers the people. While they focused on the surface event—Jesus providing bread to eat—Jesus calls them to “work for the food that endures for eternal life.” Jesus is that food. Jesus, who embodies God’s wisdom, is the bread come down from heaven. Are we eating what he sets before us?

Consider/Discuss

Do you give much thought to what you are feeding your mind? Your spirit?
What is the wisdom that Jesus brings to our lives?

Reflecting on the Word

Jesus, you are the bread that comes from heaven to give life to our world. You invite us to eat at the table of your wisdom, that we might grow into the maturity that marks us as true children of the Father, healthy in mind, heart, and spirit. We thank you.

Jan 30 2025

Looking More Deeply

Each Gospel presents this event with its own unique details. Philip and Andrew play a special role in John’s account. Each looks at the same situation, but their focus differs. Philip sees the immensity of the crowd and the impossibility of feeding so many, but Andrew spies a boy with five barley loaves and two fish, and senses another possibility. So much depends on where you direct your gaze.

The first half of John’s Gospel is called the Book of Signs (John 1:19 — 12:50), recording a series of events, beginning with the miracle at the marriage feast at Cana, that reveal God at work in Jesus. This feeding is the fourth sign, serving to remind us that the God who once fed Israel with manna in the desert is now feeding people through Jesus. But not only food for the body is involved here.

However, earthly food is what captures the crowd, leading them to recognize Jesus as the prophet Moses predicted, then to acclaim him as king (Messiah)— the long-awaited leader who would bring them freedom. Jesus flees from the crowd and this understanding of who he is.

This fourth “sign” continues to speak to us. It signals God’s desire both to nourish us and to satisfy the deepest hungers of the heart. Also, it reminds us that Jesus continues to work with what is at hand, even when neither the quality nor quantity seem adequate. Finally, this event will lead to a deeper appreciation of who Jesus is and why he came.

Consider/Discuss

Do you tend to see problems (Philip) or possibilities (Andrew)?
What are some of the ways God feeds you?

Responding to the Word

Nourishing God, you continue to feed us, often in surprising and unexpected ways. Help us to be attentive to our true hungers and to turn to you for the bread that will satisfy them. May we also recognize the hungers of our world and respond to them in the spirit of Jesus.

Jan 30 2025

A Shepherd’s Heart

Recently I heard some statistics that said for every person coming into the Catholic Church, four are leaving it. It is estimated that 33 percent of those baptized Catholic already have left. This is staggering news. Where are they going? Some join other churches; others just drift away. Why do they leave? Different reasons are given, but many said they left because they were not being nourished spiritually.

In the Gospel the disciples have returned from their work of preaching and casting out demons. They brought many stories back with them, telling about all that had happened, all that God had done through them. Jesus noticed they were tired, so he invited them for a rest, a little “R and R.” But when they arrived at their destination, they discovered that a huge crowd had followed them there.

Mark presents Jesus as one whose “heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” And so he began to teach them. Jesus is a good shepherd, in contrast to the religious leaders Jeremiah speaks of. The religious leaders of his day made God angry. “Woe” is the equivalent of “Damn you.” And for good reason: they were misleading the people, causing them to scatter.

Every age has had its bad shepherds as well as the good ones who have served faithfully. Today more than ever we need good shepherds, as many of those who have served faithfully for years are no longer in active ministry.

Consider/Discuss

Is God refusing to send good shepherds to lead the people, or are there other reasons for the lack of clergy in the United States?
Have you ever considered inviting someone to contemplate a vocation to ordination or professed religious life?

Responding to the Word

God, you spoke through Jeremiah, saying you would appoint shepherds to care for your people. In your Son Jesus you gave us a shepherd who laid down his life for us. Answer our need today for shepherds who will be faithful servants, shepherding with compassion and perseverance.