Bible Study Recap: "Put on the New Self..."

+JMJ+
Saint Alphonsus Liguouri

Howdy,

When I realized today's Mass readings for the day were to be read, rather than the memorial readings, I thought to myself: "Oh bleep…we're going to hear old Jeremiah with his complaints. Again. Goody."

Only during the homily did I realize two things:

That the prophet shared an intimacy with God, allowing him to gripe (and that his gripes would be heard), and…

That we — by virtue of our Baptism into Christ — share an even greater intimacy with God than even Jeremiah!!!

We focused a lot on Paul's Letter to Ephesians (Ephesians 4:17, 20-24)…

…especially verses 23 and 24:

"…and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth."

The "new self" is Christ — Whom we "put on" symbolically in dress, in reality in brotherhood, at our Baptism. Which made us God's children. Which gives us the right — not to complain like spoiled brats, exactly, but to complain nevertheless, knowing Abba will fix it, in one way or another. In His way. Trust in Him.

I think I'll skip the constipated "scientific" explanations of the miracles of the manna and quail…

And instead, give you a nice Hebrew word to drop at your next party. :-) "Man hu" is Hebrew for "what is it?" This is where we get the word "manna." You're welcome!

"Signs, signs, signs, give us signs!"

In both this Sunday's First and Gospel readings, God — after doing amazing things — is asked for signs. Miracles are awesome, yes, but we don't need them. We've been given plenty of miracles. The manna, which is the precursor of the true Bread of life, is miracle enough. No wait…Christ's Resurrection is miracle enough. No wait, God becoming man for us is not just miracle enough — it's an undeniable proof of His love for us, His creatures.

(So, you know? Knock it off with stuff like "copy-this-novena-to-saint-whoever-nine-times-and-make-a-wish-and-it'll-come-true" junk. GOD is our Father for Heaven's sake…what more do we want???

Anyway, it was a blessed session…and we prayed for you!

Please remember us in your prayers. Thanks!

Your humble scribe,

Kelly
~~~~~~
Points to Ponder, by Doctor Scott Hahn

Endurance Test

The journey of discipleship is a life-long exodus from the slavery of sin and death to the holiness of truth in Mount Zion, the promised land of eternal life.

The road can get rough. And when it does, we can be tempted to complain like the Israelites in this week’s First Reading.

We have to see these times of hardship as a test of what is in our hearts, a call to trust God more and to purify the motives for our faith (Deuteronomy 8:2–3).

As Paul reminds us in this week’s Epistle, we must leave behind our old self-deceptions and desires and live according to the likeness of God in which we are made.

Jesus tells the crowd in this week’s Gospel that they are following him for the wrong reasons. They seek him because he filled their bellies. The Israelites, too, were content to follow God so long as there was plenty of food.

Food is the most obvious of signs—because it is the most basic of our human needs.  We need our daily bread to live. But we cannot live by this bread alone. We need the bread of eternal life that preserves those who believe in him (Wisdom 16:20, 26).

The manna in the wilderness, like the bread Jesus multiplied for the crowd, was a sign of God’s Providence—that we should trust that he will provide.

These signs pointed to their fulfillment in the Eucharist, the abundant bread of angels we sing about in this week’s Psalm.

This is the food that God longs to give us. This is the bread we should be seeking. But too often we don’t ask for this bread. Instead we seek the perishable stuff of our every day wants and anxieties. In our weakness we think these things are what we really need.

We have to trust God more. If we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be ours as well (Matthew 6:33).