Is it who it is?

Homily

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time B2

4 August 2024

St. Ann Catholic Church, Prairie Village

AMDG

Is it who it is?

Jesus in today's Gospel is trying to change the mindset into a new way of thinking.  St. Paul talks about his metanoia, this changing of the mind.  He says we have to stop thinking from our bellies, from our flesh, and the unruly appetites that destroy a person surely headed toward death and destruction.  He says the new man thinks from the spirit of the mind

Jesus is trying to redirect the minds of those who came looking for another sign from him - you who are thinking from your bellies will never stop grumbling, or demanding signs, or asking is it what it is?  Amen I say to you - you are not thinking from the renewal of your mind, which would have you ask a new question - is it who it is?

My poor mother had the hardest time getting dinner on the table for a family of eight every night.  We didn't have much.  My mom was a master at stretching a dollar to feed us.  She cut coupons like crazy, and if there were limits on the quantities of food that you could purchase on sale, she would give each of her six kids a list and send us to the store, with coupons in hand.  I was always mortified that the $20 she gave me wouldn't be enough for the entire cart of groceries I was responsible for getting.  But my mom was good. She was so good.  There was always money left over, like the superabundant feeding of the $5,000, mom stretched a little a long way. She was so good she was asked to stop shopping at our local IGA.  I'm not kidding.

Yet what did we do when dinner was served?  We grumbled like the Israelites.  I missed my first football practice as a freshman because I wouldn't eat my peas.  My dad stuck up for my mom, and all the love she put into dinner, and grounded me when I spit the peas into the backyard after I had been asked to eat at least one bite.  Because I was so focused on what I was eating, I lost track that my mom had put her heart and soul into that meal.  I didn't ask the more important question - who is for dinner.

The word 'manna' literally means 'what is it?' It's the question the Israelites asked in response to the mysterious gift of bread from heaven that rained upon them.  It was the wrong question, then, just as it is the wrong question now as you and I once again approach the Eucharist.  Jesus teaches that it is God himself who gives us bread from heaven, and it is God's deepest desires to feed us unto eternal life through the bread of life.  In response to the question - is it what it is - Jesus says 'I am the bread of life. The most essential question as I approach food is this - is it who it is?

It is the most natural human experience to have the needs of our body and soul met together through the breaking of bread, through the sharing of a meal.  You know you are doing dinner right when everyone is grateful for the food, but the conversation is even better.  It is why we have to give thanks at every meal, especially at this meal of the Eucharist that means 'thanksgiving' because the food we share is a sacrament of our relationship with the One who wants to deliver new and full and everlasting life through the gift of His Body and Blood.

This is how we see the sign of the Eucharist - by answering the question - is it who it is?