19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B. By Tobe Eze

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B.

FIRST READING

1 Kings 19:4—8

SECOND READING
Ephesians 4:30—5:2

GOSPEL
John 6:41—51

THEME: FOOD FOR LIFE.

Sometimes I wonder all these churches everywhere that do not believe in the Holy Eucharist, is there salvation for them?  Jesus continued to talk about eating his body and drinking his blood and after all said and done,  he gave bread and wine as his flesh and blood and upon that asked his apostles to do it in the memory of him(Luke 19:22). St. Paul himself talked about it that, the cup of blessings we bless is the participation of the eating and drinking of body and blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16). Many Holy Men and Women have talked about this Holy Eucharist and we have seen it in action in many ways but some still talk evil against it and they still call themselves Christians.  For there salvation, it is left for God to say not myself or anyone. They may be in heaven even before someone of us. But it is better for me to be in a place that I can trace my origin back to the Bible.

In the first reading, Elijah was very tied and he was already praying for God to take him out of the face of the earth. When he thought all hope was lost, the Angel of the Lord came to his rescue and gave him food of life to eat. The food sustained him throughout his journey to mountain Horeb. The journey to the mountain Horeb was very horrible but the food from God sustained him throughout the journey.

The second reading ended with these words, So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. At the last supper with his apostles, he handed them over the bread and wine and went up to the cross to do sacrifice that converted that bread and wine into body and blood.  He did not spare his own life rather he gave it up for us, so that we will get that everlasting food of life.

The Gospel is like the summation of the first and second readings. In the conclusion of the gospel, Jesus said this, 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." He has given us all that we need in life to make heaven being his body and blood to eat and drink.  The primary reason I said, left for me, I will advice all to be in Catholic is because of these last words of the gospel. There are few churches that perform this Holy Eucharistic sacrifice but their origins are traced back to a man like us. It is only our own that is traced back to the master in Matthew 16:18-20.

The problem here is no longer who has the food of life or food for life, it is how then do we treat that? On 22^nd July 2018, it was on a Sunday. I was in St. James Parish Okpo Enugu-Ezike then.  That morning, 08:00 am mass was about to begin, I saw a woman praying before the door of the chapel. I called few persons around to ask them about her identity but they said they don’t know. I finally went to the woman. I asked her if she is a Catholic and she said No.  She told me that I am not a Catholic but I know God lives here and he answers when he is called. I was dumbfounded and I left her with many things going on in my head. We Catholics, do we still recognize that we have something that others do not have and they envy us?  Another experience was around April or May 2018, I was in school and my close friend called (a Pentecostal) me and told me.  Tobe, I am very sick, I have went to some hospitals now but no solution yet. Please I am begging you,

if you go to that your chapel, pray for me.  I am not a Catholic but I know that God lives in that your chapel and he will answer your prayers.  Please save me from this sickness. My last hope is on you and your God. These people are not Catholics but they recognize the real presence of God in the Holy Eucharist but we Catholics have left it and are now moving from place to place seeking for help while our help is right before us. We leave God and seek for men and women who will be our God. As a Catholic, prepare yourself as we believe, come and receive that bread of life and we shall live forever with him in heaven. THANKS AND HAPPY SUNDAY.