What is my superfood?

Homily

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time B2

11 August 2024

St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village, KS

AMDG

What is my superfood?

Take care how you answer this question, especially if you're a priest!  Many people assume priests are very lonely, and even more hungry, so people often want to know my favorite food so they can show affection and support.  I made the mistake in my first parish of saying pie was my favorite food, and I gained 20 pounds in 3 years!  I made the mistake of telling people my favorite drink when I was in Topeka, and I ended up with a lifetime supply of something that is not healthy for me!

During my 30 day retreat, when I was fasting and trying to be attentive to the word of the Lord, I ate mostly spinach.  And it worked!  I didn't exactly turned into the legendary character Popeye, but on this superfood I remained strong for 30 days.  Not 40 mind you, like Elijah in the first reading, but 30.  I'll take it!

I think my superfood now is tomatoes.  I can't get enough of tomatoes, and I feel refreshed and sharp every time I eat them. I don't know what nutrients are in a tomato, and I don't care.  I just know it's a superfood for me.

How about you?  How would you answer the question - what's my superfood?

I was asked my favorite food by a 2nd grader once, and I told them pizza.  I think pizza is up there among the greatest foods of all time!  Yet I was ashamed by this 2nd grader, who asked me this pivotal question. Shouldn't your superfood be the Eucharist?

Oof.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood  has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  Eat any other food, and you will still die, but whoever eats this food will live forever.

Wow. Talk about a superfood.  The 2nd grader nailed me.  Since that pivotal question, I'll never make the same mistake again.

If I am going to fulfill the purpose of my life, to become like God and grow perfect in faith, hope and love, I need to be drawn by God into a relationship where He can both teach and feed me.  I am a unity of body and soul, and my body needs a superfood and my mind a super-teaching, and my will and heart a super-courage, a super-compassion, a super-charity.  I receive all these at Mass, at the Eucharist. Jesus promises that it is here, and only here, that I will learn how to trust to the end, hope to the end, and love to the end.

Here is a superfood that is meant to last longer than 40 days, but is meant to last forever.

In John 6, we are in the middle of Jesus most challenging and annoying sermon.  The dude can preach, and he cuts us by his words all the time.  But never quite like this.  What if I was to tell you that I was born from heaven, and that unless you knaw on my flesh like a piece of jerky and drink my blood, you're a dead man?  Jesus says nothing less.  What if I told you I was from another dimension? What if I cut off my arm and told you to bite into it? What if I showed up with a pint of my blood and told you to drink it?  How many of you would remain.  Jesus says nothing less in John Chapter 6.

How many of us believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist?  The answer is easy.  None of us do, unless the Father draws us by faith into a relationship where He can teach and feed us.

It's Jesus who asks you the question today - what is your superfood?

+mj