Emptiness and Fullness

Hunger can mean more than a craving for food. The word can indicate a longing, yearning, or desiring. To hunger can mean to aspire or hope for something. When one hungers, there is always room for more.

Being full, on the other hand, can mean feeling uncomfortable, bloated, lethargic, drowsy, listless, heavy, passive, slothful, and slow. There is no room for more.

When it comes to sharing in the Body and Blood of Christ, the faithful should consider whether they are hungry or full. Pope John Paul II referred to the interior life when he spoke about a lack of Eucharistic hunger or thirst.

In his 1980 letter Mystery and Worship of the Most Holy Eucharist, the pope noted that all in the assembly receive Communion and was concerned whether the Eucharist is approached with the correct disposition. In making this observation, he sought to stimulate awareness of what the faithful do when they share in Christ’s Body and Blood. The Eucharist, he states in the letter, affects how a person treats others: “If our eucharist is authentic, it must make us grow in the awareness of the dignity of each person.”

That awareness of the dignity of all human beings begins with ourselves. Are you aware of your dignity? Are you aware of how God sees you? Are you aware of how much God hungers for relationship? God anticipates, craves, longs, and yearns for us. The Eucharist is an expression of God’s love that seeks to be one with us. When we partake in the sacred meal, God becomes ever more a part of us and we ever more a part of God. Through the Eucharist, we can understand that we are “oned” with God, as the mystic Julian of Norwich put it.

The Eucharist also unites us with the community of believers, an understanding that St. Augustine highlighted in his sermon to the newly initiated.

So now, if you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle Paul speaking to the faithful: “You are the body of Christ, member for member” (1 Cor. 12.27) If you, therefore, are Christ’s body and members, it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord’s table! It is your own mystery that you are receiving! You are saying “Amen” to what you are: your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith. When you hear “The body of Christ,” you reply “Amen.” Be a member of Christ’s body, then, so that your “Amen” may ring true!

In approaching the table of the Lord, it is important to realize what it means to say “Amen,” what it means to grow in the awareness of the dignity of each person, that our “Amen” may ring true!

Five Minute Jesus

Using the Gospel for Prayer – Fourth Sunday of Easter April 30, 2023

It’s simple. 1. Read the Gospel for the following Sunday slowly, reflecting on the story it tells. 2. Reflect on the questions assigned for each day. 3. Make some resolution about how what you read can be lived that day. 4. Then thank God for speaking to you through this reflection.

Gospel John 10:1-10

Jesus said: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers." Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them. So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly."

Monday April 24th

Was there something in this reading that spoke to me? Comforted me? Challenged me? What was it? Why did it have this effect on me?

Tuesday April 25th

We find ourselves this Sunday back during the ministry of Jesus. He speaks of the “sheepfold” - i.e. the pen where shepherds keep their sheep safe at night. All of us have safe places – places where we feel protected and cared for. Where is that place for me? And why is it my sheepfold? Who protects me there?

Wednesday April 26th

Jesus speaks of thieves and robbers who climb over the wall of the fold to get at the sheep. We begin to understand that Jesus is not talking about sheep farming, but about his community, church which at the time John was writing this Gospel was experiencing people coming into their gatherings, their “sheepfolds” and sowing division. Has this ever happened to you? Who threatens your places of safety and security? And if it is your faith that offers you your “sheepfold” what disturbs the peace and safety your faith offers you? And how do you deal with it?

Thursday April 27th

It is the shepherd who has the key to the door and his sheep follow him because “They recognize his voice”. Jesus implies that you know who belongs to Jesus’ church because they follow him. How do I follow Jesus? Do I listen for his voice? Where do I hear it? How well do I follow it?

Friday April 28th

Jesus contrasts the Shepherd with “strangers” – John informs us that Jesus is talking about the Pharisees. The Pharisees were lay religious leaders in Jesus’ day. They helped Jews follow God’s Law and live lives in faithfulness to the Covenant God made with Israel. He sees them as thieves and robbers! This reflects the relationship between the Church and their Jewish brothers and sisters at the end of the first millennium. How do you understand our relationship with our Jewish brothers and sisters today? What is your relationship? How have we moved past this animosity? Or have we?

Saturday April 29th

Jesus says that he has come so that his sheep might have life – abundantly. His words offer a picture of sheep grazing on fertile fields, safe from predators, and cared for by their shepherd. What does abundant life mean for you? Does it involve God? Faith? The Church? If so, how? If not, why not?