A Faith-filled Life


21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: John 6: 60 - 69
Cycle B

After giving a long and turbulent discourse on the bread of life, Jesus was met with more opposition. A great majority left him. But all he did was to speak the truth about himself and that he is the way to the Father.

What is our faith really like? How far will it go? We are the ones who limit Jesus’ power to heal and save. Our lives do not reflect our total dependence on God. The acid is test is the faith of our children today - what do they actually believe in nowadays? Do their lives reflect what we have toiled and sacrificed all our lives - God himself?

But not all left Jesus. The apostles stayed on. They said, "Lord, where do we go? You have the words of eternal life." Then they went on further, "We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." Their faith becomes as concrete as ever.

Three things compliment with faith - knowledge, memory, and action. We desire to know the workings and dynamics of faith through a lively Catechesis. This is not just kids' affair. Everyone needs an on-going understanding of faith as long as life itself.

Secondly, faith needs to be rekindled, constantly celebrated and remembered. It needs to make itself present through a lively celebration of liturgy, more particularly the Eucharist. In the liturgy, we and our families should be experiencing total communion with other families and with God. Teach your children that mass in not mere obligation or attendance. Teach them rather that everything of our lives begin and end with the mass.

Finally, faith is concretized in action and in life. Pray for a faith that yields a fruitful harvest - of love, of generosity, of transparency, responsibility, of unity and solidarity, of healing, of development and progress, of transformation, of Gospel values. Otherwise, all accomplishments, all efforts are empty and a wasteful usage of time, talent, and treasure. Life dedicated to these things and service to the poor becomes meaningful and worthwhile.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Fr. Joselito Jopson

Comments

  1. To....litz! Complementi! In the gospel for this Sunday, I've come to reflect on the exercise of the will of man when it comes to accepting or rejecting the teaching of Jesus. The Lord never imposed anything on anyone. But why there are people of today who think that the Church imposes things on them? This is because of the crisis of faith in them. This is not a judgment. but a reality to most Catholics attracted to the so-called "enlightenment."

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