“…[they] came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.” (John 6:24)
Over the last week, many of us have been awed by the athletic
achievements we have seen at the Olympics.
As a country we have fallen in love with Gabby Douglas’ smile, Missy Franklin’s
exuberance, and Katie Ledecky’s youth.
All three of these teenagers have witnessed to the presence of God in
some way after winning their gold medals.
Gabby told the sideline reporter on national television minutes after
winning gold: “I give all the glory to God…the glory goes up to him and his
blessings fall down on me.” Katie
Ledecky is the youngest member of the entire U.S. Olympic team since she just
turned 15 in March. She is a student at
Stone Ridge High School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland. Her godfather is a Jesuit priest, and she
says that she prays a Hail Mary before every race. Missy Franklin also attends a Catholic high
school though she is not Catholic, yet.
Missy lives in Aurora, Colorado and dedicated these games to the victims
of the tragic shooting. I say she is not
Catholic yet because although her family is Protestant, Missy has been quoted
as saying she is thinking about becoming a Catholic because of the incredible
spiritual experience of going to Catholic high school retreats and going to
Mass. She is looking for the same thing
that the people in today’s gospel are looking for. Something we can only find here on the altar. Yesterday, a parishioner sent me an article
that said that Olympic athletes were flocking to daily Mass. Of all the religious services taking place in
the athlete’s village, Mass is the most attended particularly since they are
celebrating the Eucharist three times a day.
Even in competition, these athletes, like the crowds, like us on this
Sunday, are looking for Jesus.
But the crowds come looking for a sign from Jesus. They aren’t aware yet that what Jesus has to
offer is life-giving bread. They come
hungering for the physical and perishable not the spiritual. At times we are very much like the crowds in
today’s gospel. We look for signs from
above and fail to recognize the real presence of Christ in our midst. Jesus gives himself totally to us in the
Eucharist. He prepares for us this heavenly
meal that causes the crowd to tell him “give us this bread always!” Unfortunately many of us take this meal in bits
and pieces. Imagine a buffet spread
before you and you pick at all the food but don’t sit down to savor what you
are eating, to digest, and to enjoy. We
cannot take Jesus in bits and pieces. We
have to take him all! That is what
communion is all about. A part time
spiritual life, like the manna in the desert, will perish. The Eucharist creates a permanent bond that
calls us to a deeper relationship with our Lord that does not perish. And how do we strengthen this relationship
with Christ? On our knees before the
Blessed Sacrament! It is only there face
to face with our Lord and God that we get to know the Master and that we hunger
for him even more. He is there every day
in the tabernacle waiting for you, longing for you, and yes, hungering for you. Our young Olympians are seeking out Christ
every day before they compete and proclaiming his glory to the entire
word. How much more do we need our Lord
to be able to take his presence and proclaim his glory to a world hungering for
the divine?
