FED WITH THE BREAD OF LIFE, WE WILL HAVE THE STRENGTH TO WALK UPO TO GOD’S MOUNTAIN

XIX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 1 Kings 19:4-8

The first reading presents Elijah’s experience. He was a bold and courageous prophet, who spoke fearlessly against the idolatry of the people and the injustices of the king. Moved by a strong zeal of God, he had got rid of the priests of Baal, thus drawing upon himself the wrath of the queen, who swore to have him killed. Realising that his life was in real danger, Elijah decided to run away and hide in the wilderness. As a run-away, tired, hungry and thirsty, he lost the zest for life and wished he were dead. Then, he said to God: “O Lord, I have had enough. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” He felt as if he had spent the usefulness of his life, doing whatever he could and failing. He looked upon himself as a failure and considered that life was not worth living any more. Others commit suicide when they reach such a stage, but Elijah left it in God’s hands. So many times, we start with big dreams and big plans, having the idea that we will do better than all those who came before us; then, we hit our heads against the walls of real life and we are forced to realise that we are no better than our ancestors. When discouragement and disappointment take over, we ran away and give up, as Elijah did. That’s when we need God to come into our lives to breath new impetus and new hope so that we can move forward. Left to our own, we will not go far. Feeling tired and in despair, we may cry out to be relieved of the mission we failed to accomplish.

God intervened in the life of Elijah, calling him, strengthening him with food from heaven and then ordering him to proceed his journey. Our final journey, like Elijah’s, is to God’s mountain and for us to walk up to the top, we need to be fed with God’s food. And that is the kind of food that Jesus promised to give us. He is the bread of life. “Anyone who eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:51). Jesus promised to give us the Eucharist and he invites us to his table, putting himself forward as the bread of life. In the Church assembly, when we get up and approach the table of the Lord, we are given the bread that will make us walk up to the mountain of God. That bread will transform us from within, uniting us with Jesus Christ to be with him one body. We should not despise God’s gift by staying away from the Lord’s table and we must prepare ourselves to be worthy of the bread of life.