Strength for our Journey

Elijah prayed for death saying:"This is enough, O LORD! Take my life."

Having humiliated the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, Prophet Elijah directs their executions and runs for his life to escape the evil Queen Jezebel. And she, in turn, has promised to slay him in revenge for the slaughter of her Baal prophets. We find him under a broom tree, one day’s journey into the desert, praying for death by God’s hand. "This is enough, O LORD! Take my life." He is broken and dispirited. After a nap, Elijah feels a messenger’s touch and hears a command to eat. This is the story that is narrated in the first reading for our Sunday's liturgy (1 Kings 9:4-8).

What is said of Prophet Elijah is also true of us. Christian life is by no means plain sailing and we often find ourselves broken and crushed by circumstances that come our way. Left to our own resources we can find no light at the end of the tunnel. To keep going we need an assurance that we are not alone in our lives and that God is with us helping us to carry our crosses. We need concrete assurances. We need strength for the journey. We need to concretely know that God is concerned about us: we need angels, God's messengers, and we need nourishment and food.

The gospel of today (John 6:41-51) points out that we have such a help in Jesus who is the Bread of Life. Jesus Christ gives himself as food for us in the Eucharist. He is the nourishment for our spiritual journey towards the mountain of God. He brings each of us just what we need to sustain us on our pilgrim journey to God. Jesus is heavenly bread, medicine for the sick soul, nourishment for a wounded spirit, light and strength for a weary mind, the source of new and eternal life, whose presence and power strengthens us. He is the living Bread which has come down for heaven, the unique source of life. Once again, what is said of Elijah at the end of the first reading will also be true of us if we accept Christ in our lives. "Elijah got up, ate, and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb."

Coming to Christ requires far more than a weekly walk up to the altar to receive Holy Communion. If Jesus makes himself available to us in our ordinary, mundane day-to-day lives, then we have to make ourselves present to him. The Eucharist is also about my presence to God, my availability to Him, my free response to Him; and also eventually my presence to others all around me. God sends us His angels and along with them the strength for our journey. This awareness could change my life, and even change others' lives. Am I aware? Or am I still having my nap?