Sunday, August 12, 2018

All three readings have examples of people complaining in different ways. Paul contrasts two ways of life. One way, complaining and dissatisfied life, results in “bitterness, fury, anger…” In the other path, the life of the Spirit, others are treated with love and compassion and everyone strives to be “imitators of God, as beloved children who live in love.”

In the First Reading, the prophet Elijah is despondent. The king and queen of Israel seek to kill him because he had destroyed the prophets of Baal. Afraid, Elijah calls upon the Lord to end his life, saying that he has suffered enough. In the midst of his complaint, the Lord strengthens Elijah with food. This food renews Elijah and he sets out to “the mountain of God, Horeb,” where the Ten Commandments were given to Moses (Deuteronomy 5:2).

The people of Israel also complain against Jesus in John’s Gospel today as the “Bread of Life Discourse” continues. Jesus contrasts the bread that he is to give with the bread that their ancestors ate. Their ancestors ate the bread and died. On the other hand, Jesus, the true living bread, guarantees eternal life for all who eat of it. John goes on to explain that “the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The idiom “flesh and blood” is a Hebrew way of referring to the “whole person.” Here John deliberately connects the Death of Jesus and the Eucharist. By eating of his body, the bread of life, Jesus promises the fruits of his Death and Resurrection: eternal life and a living relationship with God.

As God sustained and renewed Elijah’s life, so Jesus now sustains his followers through himself, “the living bread that came down from heaven.” The Eucharist is the true food for our life’s journey. At Home with the Word.

In His love and mine,

Fr. Ken

In the Spring of 1988, Bishop William D. Keeler formed a new parish to accommodate the rapid growth in Silver Spring Township and named Reverend James R. O’Brien as the founding pastor. That same year, Mother Katharine Drexel was beatified by Pope John Paul, II. At Bishop Keeler’s request, the Holy Father gave his permission to name the Parish in Silver Spring Township as the first parish in the world to be named in her honor. Eighteen years later, on October 1, 2000, Blessed Katharine Drexel was canonized and the church’s name changed to Saint Katharine Drexel.

The Saint Katharine Drexel Parish Family, guided by the Holy Spirit, commits itself to reaching out and sharing with all people the love and service modeled by our patroness, with the Eucharist as our source of strength. Through prayer and action, we will serve God, our Lord and Savior, and our community, exhibiting a special concern for the poor, oppressed and marginalized of our society, especially those among the African-American & Native-American peoples.