The World is Perishing: Turn Back to God.

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 16, 2015

Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Tucson, AZ

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”

In today’s Mass we continue reading the Gospel of John 6:51-58 on the Bread of Life. 

In this passage, Our Lord had some things to say that were difficult for the Jewish people to accept. After performing the miracle of the loaves and fish, Our Lord invited the crowd to come to Him to eat the “living Bread.”  He promised to give them His flesh to eat. The Jews quarreled and murmured… They said, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 
The people did not understand and were even offended.They thought Our Lord was speaking of cannibalism.  But He was not. He was not speaking about eating His dead flesh  and blood. He was speaking of His Heavenly Body.

Jesus’ disciples did not understand either, which we will hear in next week’s Gospel.  In fact, it was not until after Our Lord had risen from the dead and after He celebrated the Last Supper that the disciples would come to fully understand that Jesus is the living Bread that came down from heaven.

My brothers and sisters, as Catholics we believe that Our Lord Jesus is the Living Bread come down from heaven! Our Lord Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth, suffered in the flesh and rose again in the flesh so that our souls can be healed. 

 He has given us a new life that begins at our Baptism, and this new life is brought toward perfection by our participation in the Holy Eucharist with a renewed desire to live for God. 

Ever since the fall of humanity our human nature has become corrupted. We have brought death into our human nature because we have learned to deny the dignity of God within ourselves through original sin. 

Sin is rooted in man’s preference for himself over God. Making a choice to sin leads to weakening of the soul and a propensity to continue to sin. A good example of this in our time is pornography. When we view this filth, it enters into our minds, and later, when we least expect it, the thoughts come back. They tempt us.  

And it is so easy today to fall into the temptation of pornography because pornography has tentacles reaching into virtually every home in America, which makes this vice always just a click away.

We are to strive to overcome this and other sins of the flesh by going to confession and receiving Our Lord frequently in the Holy Eucharist. We need to fill our minds with things that are pure and holy. As Saint Paul says in today’s second reading (Ephesians 5:15-20), we are to be “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in [our] hearts.” We are called to learn to recognize our weakness and temptations so that we can call on the Lord’s name when the evil one is on attack. We need to be spiritually prepared because the evil one in full force in our world today. 

In fact, we live in a time and culture when the evil one is gaining more souls than ever. 

Homosexuality, adultery, sex outside marriage, pornography… All of these sins of the flesh, which are becoming common and widespread in our culture, are separating many souls from their relationship with God. 

We separate ourselves from God’s grace also when we use contraception because we take God out of the love act. We turn the love act into an act of the flesh by artificially blocking God’s grace from the act.  

My brothers and sisters, when we corrupt our bodies through immorality, we pervert the dignity of our human bodies from the original holiness God created in us, and we deny the redemptive action of Christ that is offered to us through His suffering in the flesh. 

Saint Paul says, “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil.”

These days are days of evil!  The devil is gaining many souls today though our culture by deceiving us to believe that sin is not sin. He is encouraging us to use our flesh in ways that destroy not only our flesh but the eternal Spirit that lives inside us! For, the devil wants to twist, distort, and destroy God’s creation. That is his goal, and he is having much success. 

I am sure that most of us have heard of the recent revelations that Planned Parenthood has been selling aborted baby parts. The very flesh that God created to have life in this world and to be redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ is not only being murdered before birth, but its unborn flesh is being sold in our world for profit! In fact, it has been revealed that some aborted baby remains sold by Planned Parenthood go to biotech companies for the purpose of creating "humanized" mice.   Seriously!

 My brothers and sisters, the world we live

in today is perishing because it is a world that has turned away from God. 

But Our Lord has come into our world to save those who will listen to Him. He has given us His flesh in the Holy Eucharist so that we will no longer live for the world but will have life eternal. For “whoever eats [His] flesh and drinks [His] blood [worthily] has eternal life, and [He] will raise him on the last day." 

May each one of us continually strive to receive Our Lord Jesus worthily in the Holy Eucharist so that we may grow in the grace of God and be given the promise of eternal redemption. God bless you.

Did you enjoy this sermon, Fr. Shea has more! Baptism is Only the Beginning 

"Another Boy"

By Christopher Ziegler

Editor's Note: The fourth undercover video released by the Center for Medical Progress ends with the words "Another Boy!" as Planned Parenthood technicians search in a petrie dish for usable parts of an aborted baby.

Unwanted. Unnamed. Unloved.
Your Mom did not accept you.

Denied. Feared. Forgotten.
Your Dad did not protect you.

Ridiculed. Dissected. Disposed.
They did not see your humanity.

No one gave you a chance at life.

But He who wore a crown of thorns—
He saw your humanity.

He who, like you, died naked
And forsaken—
He gave you a name.

He who was abandoned
And betrayed—
Did not forget you.
He did not leave you.

The Author of Life
Died with you—

Did you enjoy this Piece? Mr Ziegler has written prose pieces on abortion also. Maybe you would enjoy To Be Human or Not to Be: That is the Question About Abortion

Or another poem on abortion: The Choice by Susan Fox 

Father! Draw Me Close

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 9,, 2015

Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Tucson, AZ

“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)

In today’s celebration of Mass on this 19th

Sunday of Ordinary time, we again learn of the great gift of the Holy Eucharist in John 6: 41-51. 

You may recall a few weeks ago we heard the passage of the feeding of the 5000.

The following week we heard Our Lord explain the bigger picture of the significance of the miracle of the loaves and fish. Our Lord said to the people, yes, you saw the miracle of the loaves and fish, but, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which [I] will give you" (John 6:27). He says to them, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." (John 6:51). 

In today’s Gospel, we hear of the reaction of the Jewish people toward Our Lord’s revelation that He Himself is the living Bread that came down from heaven and that He gives eternal life. 

Sadly, they do not believe Him. They are thinking in an earthly manner, clinging to physical bread only. They grumble and murmur among themselves saying, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

So Our Lord rebukes the Jews because of their hardness of heart, and He reminds them

"No one can come to Me
unless the Father draw him."

that “no one can come to Me unless the Father draws him.” No one can come to Him unless they open their hearts to His grace.

My brothers and sisters, these words of Our Lord Jesus Christ in today’s Gospel passage were not just given to the Jewish people over 2000 years ago; these words are also being said to each one of us today.

Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven, and the bread that we receive at Mass is “[His] flesh for the life of the world!" (John 6:51)

And we are reminded today -- through Our Lord’s conversation with the Jews -- that if we truly want the gift of the Eucharist to bear fruit in our lives than we must be open to conversion of heart. We must be drawn by the Holy Spirit to receive Our Lord in faith. 

There are many Catholics in the world today. But how many Catholics are drawn to our Church by the Father? In other words, how many come to Mass with the right intentions?

In fact, statistics tell us that only 30% of today's Catholics believe in the Real Presence. A mere 30% of Catholics today believe that the sacrament of Holy Communion is actually Jesus, the Son of God. Many think, "Oh, sure, it's a symbol of God." But, no! The bread that we receive in Holy Communion is the real thing! Christ instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion in order to remain with us until the end of time (Jn 14:18). He intended us to believe in Him, and, in believing, we are to eat His Body and drink His Blood so that we can have life eternal! If we do not believe, we are not fulfilling His plan. Furthermore, the deeper our trust in the True Presence of Our Lord, the more surely and effectively we will be sanctified in receiving Him! 

My brothers and sisters, to eat the flesh of Jesus means that we strive to have Jesus in the center of our lives. Just as the food we eat becomes part of us when it enters our

bloodstream and organs, Jesus becomes part of us when we eat His living Body -- if we are striving to receive Him worthily by a life lived in purity and holiness.

We come to Mass because the Father has drawn us. We come because we want to receive Our Lord worthily so that we can grow in sanctity and holiness. If we do not want to strive to leave our sins behind and grow in sanctity, than we are not ready to receive Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Our Lord has said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” He has also said, “Strive to enter the narrow gate…”

Our Church is the narrow gate. All are welcome into this gate but few are chosen. This is because Our Lord knows that many have closed hearts. Many are unwilling to change their lives. 

God calls us to live in His grace. But we must be willing to live in His grace by offering our bodies, our minds, and our souls to Him. In today’s second reading Saint Paul says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.” 

Each one of us who has been confirmed has been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Yet, we can squash the Holy Spirit that lives in us through grave sin. This is why Our Lord has given His Church the sacrament of confession. Our Lord will never refuse a repentant heart that truly wants to change even though we continue to struggle. But Our Lord won’t live in a heart that refuses to strive to walk in purity and truth.

As we come to receive Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist this day, let us thank God for the gift of Our Lord’s eternal Bread, and let us strive to receive this gift worthily so that we can live in Our Lord’s grace in this life and be raised by Him on the last day.

Did you enjoy this thoughtful sermon? Perhaps you'd also like to read the light-hearted Just Discovered: The Gospel of Symbols! a parody of 3rd and 4th century Gnostic thinking.