Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The Lord be with you and with your spirit. A reading from the holy gospel according to John glory to you.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here?
Jesus answered them and said, amen. Amen. I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life which the son of man will give you.
For on him the Father God has set his seal.
So they said to him, what can we do to accomplish the works of God?
Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in, the one he sent.
So they said to him, what sign can you do that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.
So Jesus said to them, amen. Amen. I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven.
My father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
So they said to him, sir, give us this bread always, jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
The gospel of the Lord praise to the Lord.
I've come to believe that we all have a list.
And while it may not be an actual written list, although for some I'm pretty sure it is, it is a list nonetheless.
It's a list of those things that we have come to believe, falsely, by the way, that if we achieve or obtain these things, we will be fully happy and content.
And each of those lists that we have is unique to who we are.
For some, that list may contain monetary wealth, property, might be a certain type of car, might be certain places we'd like to travel.
Some it could be fame.
For some it could be relationships.
But the thing that all of these lists have in common is that they're always wrong.
The reason why they're wrong is there is nothing of this world that we root ourselves in that will ever bring us that happiness and contentment.
And if you've ever had a list that you looked at carefully and recognize that when you achieved those things or obtained those things, they didn't work, you've come to recognize the truth of that reality.
While the Israelites were struggling in the desert, they were looking for something that was going to sustain them at this point in time. It was earthly food, but it was never going to be enough.
They were fed from manna, from heaven. The presence of God was entering into their world and into their lives.
And that was the perfect thing to be on the list, because that is the only thing that was going to ever bring them that contentment, that wholeness, that happiness.
Well, that is our reality as well. It was for those people that traveled to capernaum, and it's for us too. The only thing that's going to ever bring us contentment and peace is to live in and recognize the presence of God in our lives.
Now, here's where that gets twisted just a little bit.
The real way we experience that presence of God in our lives, relational, it's in our love and interaction with one another.
That's the only way we can really do it. Because we believe with all of our hearts that Jesus Christ is present in our brothers and sisters. And that when we are in right relationship with one another, when we love one another and we receive love back, we're having an experience of God. And that can bring us that contentment, that peace, that happiness that we all seek. That can seem so elusive.
There's only one place we can find it, but when we do, we will definitely find contentment.
