19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B
August 8, 2021
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 8:30am
Bon Secours Retreat and Conference Center 11am
A Mother’s Presence
Recently I read an article about a woman who was a wife and mother; she died when her daughter was only twelve years-old.
This mother had suffered for almost four years. But, despite surgeries and chemo, she was the best mom and friend a child could have.
Every day ended with mother and daughter spending time together. Every night mom tucked her daughter in with a kiss and the expression: “I love you to the moon and back.”
Though not unexpected, her mom’s death was devastating to this twelve-year-old. The morning after her mother’s funeral, she woke up to find a box on the desk in her room.
Her dad had placed it there after she had fallen asleep. She opened the box to find a collection of envelopes, each addressed in the same way: “To my beautiful daughter.”
There were envelopes to be opened at specific times, each with handwritten words: “on your 16thbirthday,” “on your graduation from high school,” “on the day you leave for college,” “on your graduation from college,” “on the day of your first full-time job,” “on your 21st birthday,” “on your 30th birthday,” and so on.
There were also cards to be opened: “when things go bad,” “after a painful breakup,” “when you feel alone.” And then came the last three envelopes in the box: “on your engagement,” “on the day of your marriage,” “on the birth of your first child.”
Over the ensuing years, this daughter would open the envelopes and read what her mother had written. Her mom was with her, offering encouragement, comfort, and wisdom at each milestone of her life, and always ending with the expression: “I love you to the moon and back.”
She opened the last envelope the day her own daughter was born. In it was a photo: a picture of her mother holding her when she was six months old.
The card read: “Congratulations on becoming a mother. What a lucky little girl my grandchild is to have you for her mom.
“You’ll be a terrific parent. May your child bring you as much joy as you brought to your dad and me. Love her to the moon and back.”
Jesus’ Presence
Well, today’s gospel, for the third week in a row, is from the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel.
The entire chapter is about Jesus giving us the bread of life. Last week, the message was that this imperishable food satisfies our highest human needs and leads us to eternal life.
Today, I am seeing another message. Jesus gives us his very self as the “bread of life” for our sustenance.
This “bread of life” is a twofold reality: 1) Word and 2) Sacrament. It is Jesus’ Word to encourage, comfort, sometimes challenge, and always guide us.
And this “bread of life” is also Sacrament. It is Jesus himself, his body and blood, under the forms of bread and wine.
Conclusion
So, Jesus is always here for us and is always giving himself to us as Word and Sacrament.
He is with us each week and each step of our life. What that mother did for her daughter expresses in a very human way what Jesus is doing for us here and now as the “bread of life.”
She expresses the kind of person that the “bread of life” shapes us to become and what it moves us to do for one another. Jesus says: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Jesus is saying what that mother was saying to her daughter every step of the way: “I am here for you always. I love you to the moon and back. “
