Before the advent of smartphones, text messaging, electronic mail, WhatsApp messaging, etc., written communication was mostly by letter writing. At that time, it was common to hear of love letters. In Nigeria, at that time, a young man, Ben, wrote the following love letter to his girlfriend, Lizzy:
“Dear Lizzy,
With great emotions, I pick up my golden pen from the basket of love to express how I feel about you. I hope this letter meets you thinking of me as much as I am thinking of you.
You are the love of my life, the only sugar in my tea, the only flower in my garden, the butter on my bread, and the sunshine of my life. There is nothing I cannot do for you. I can climb any mountain to get your love, I can swim across any ocean for your sake, I can pass through any fire because of you…”
Ben continued to write until he reached the end, when he concluded, “Your true love, Ben!” He then went under the body of the letter, and he wrote, “P.S. (or N.B.): “Expect me at your house tomorrow if the rain does not fall.” The same Ben who bragged about being able to do anything for Lizzy’s sake can no longer withstand the rainfall for Lizzy’s sake.
My dearly beloved in Christ, in today’s first reading, Joshua addresses the twelve tribes of Israel to make a choice regarding whom to serve. He said, “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
One may wonder, “Why is Joshua bringing this up now? The Israelites had already made a covenant with God, who saved them from Egypt and led them through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Under the leadership of Moses, the Israelites already promised God that he would be their God and that they would be his people; why is Joshua bringing up the same conversation that the Israelites had settled long ago?
Yes, the Israelites had already made a covenant with God. But they are now in the Promised Land, meeting new situations. God delivered them from Egypt; while in the desert, God fed them miraculously with manna and quail. God gave them water from the rock to drink, but now they are in the Promised Land where they will have to till the ground and grow their crops. They are meeting new people in the Promised Land. These people have their gods, the Baals, the fertility gods for humans, animals, and plants. This new condition required the Israelites to reexamine their initial commitment to God. Joshua saw the possibility of the Israelites questioning, “Yes, we know God did it for us in the past, but can he do for us what the Baals are doing for the people we are meeting in this Promised Land? Can he provide for our fertility like the gods of the Amorites are doing for them?” Also, before they made a covenant with the God of Israel, their ancestors worshipped different gods. It was with the knowledge of their past and their present situations that Joshua invited the Israelites to reexamine their stand. Whenever we take a new step in life, it calls for a reexamination of our initial commitment to God.
The story of the Israelites prepares us for our Christian journey. At baptism, we are like the Israelites coming out of the ocean (baptismal water) into the Promised Land, a new life in Christ. Every new situation requires us to reexamine our initial commitment to God in this Promised Land. At our baptism, we said “No” to Satan and all his empty promises; we said “Yes” to God and everything from God. But we need to constantly reexamine this commitment when we move to a new community, a new school, a new job, when we get some promotion, when we begin a new family, when we retire, when people dear to us or we become sick, when there is a new government policy, when our leaders (secular/religious) scandalize us, etc. Our initial profession of faith faces a new challenge and takes on a new meaning in every new situation.
Furthermore, today’s gospel passage comes up on this fifth/last consecutive Sunday that we reflect on John 6. The chapter began four Sundays ago with Jesus multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish, feeding the crowd of over five thousand people. The crowd followed him and wanted to crown him king. However, as soon as Jesus began to go deeper into his teaching to present himself as the Bread of Life, many people began to reexamine their commitment to him and abandon him. It was a hard teaching for them to take; they felt it was an insult for Jesus to give them his flesh and blood to eat and drink. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus turned to his apostles and asked, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, ‘Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” Every new situation in life calls for a reexamination of our commitment to God.
As Catholics, in receiving Holy Communion at Mass (and on special occasions outside Mass), the minister or extraordinary minister says, “The Body of Christ,” and the communicant audibly responds, “Amen.” This one word, “Amen,” is an expression by the communicant of the belief that this small wafer of bread is in reality the body of Christ. The same applies to the wine when we communicate under both species. That is why at Mass, we remind non-Catholics / non-Communicants not to receive the Holy Communion. Some think we do so maliciously.
On the contrary, we do so to protect them from self-condemnation. By saying “Amen” and receiving the Body of Christ, they are professing belief in all that the Catholic Church received from Jesus and teaches about the sacrament. When such guests say “Amen” to “The Body of Christ,” and they do not believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, they condemn themselves. So, in love, we advise them not to receive The Body of Christ. According to my Bishop, Most Rev. Anthony A. Adaji, MSP, of the Catholic Diocese of Idah, Nigeria, “The Catholic Church/Faith is not a buffet where you only come to believe what is convenient. You either believe all or none.” My dearly beloved in Christ, as Christians, we say “Yes” to God. But life is not stagnant. We go through life with many ups and downs. Each change in life invites a reexamination of our fundamental “Yes” to God. I have no idea what you are facing now, but I would like to ask, “Considering your current situation, are you still fully, wholly, and entirely for Christ?”
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