MAN IS WHAT HE EATS

19TH SUNDAY OF YEAR B. 
(HOMILY BY REV. FR. AUGUSTINE EBUKA NNADI,  A PRIEST OF THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF EKWULOBIA ).

INTRODUCTION.
The Story of Alessandro Serenelli, the murderer of St. Maria Goretti.

Alessandro Serenelli was born into a family well acquainted with poverty and hardship.  Shortly after he was born, his mother attempted to drown him.  Several months later, while in a mental asylum, she died.  His brother would also be subsequently interned in an asylum, where he also died. Alessandro’s father, Giovanni, was an alcoholic who struggled to provide for his children.  He moved the family multiple times trying to earn a living as a manual labourer. Unfortunately, his alcoholism prevented his holding down a job for very long. Without any attention and love as a youth, Alessandro became addicted to pornographic materials. At that time, pornographic photos were sold near the train stations. Pornography was readily available to Alessandro, and it twisted his ideas of sexuality and chastity. Such materials became his strength and source of excitement. This exposure to pornography resulted in his uncontrollable lust for St. Maria Goretti which eventually led to the murder of the saint at her refusal to give in. In a testimony given shortly before he passed away, Alessandro reflected on his past and his encounter with Maria Goretti in these words:  “My behaviour was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking”.

The adage that says, “Man is what he eats”, points to the fact that what goes into a man influences the life of a man. Just as the food taken determines the outward appearance of the body, the ideas or images that one assimilates, determine to a great extent, one’s state of mind which is manifested through one’s actions. The story of Alessandro in our leading story is a clear instance. One day the Lord commanded Ezekiel: “Son of man, eat this scroll and then go: speak to the people of Israel”(Ezekiel 3:1). It was an invitation to assimilate the message contained in the book. Jeremiah used the same image, “I devoured your words when they came—the prophet admits—they were my happiness and I felt full of joy” (Jeremiah 15:16). Thus, the readings of this Sunday stress this point very well:- what goes into a man determines what comes out of him. 

FIRST READING: 1 Kings 19:4-8.
In this passage, the prophet, Elijah suffered not a crisis of faith but a crisis of expectation after he triumphed over the false prophets of Baal. Archaeology confirms that Ahab’s reign (874-853 B.C.) was one of the most prosperous of Israel. King Ahab was clever and wise; he fortified the city of Megiddo and Hazor, providing them with monumental gates, mighty walls, large warehouses, and unique systems for the supply of water that remains to this day. He promoted trade, entered into alliances with neighbouring peoples, and built luxurious palaces decorated with ivory carved in Egyptian art. Yet, the Bible pronounces a severe judgment on him: “There was no one like Ahab, urged by his wife Jezebel, in doing what Yahweh abhorred. He did horrible things and ran after unclean idols” (1 Kings 22:25-26). Jezebel was young, so charming as treacherous, daughter of the king of Tyre. She had come into Samaria, accompanied by a crowd of prophets of Baal and Astarte. With flattery and spells, she had induced her husband to build a temple for these deities worshipped in Phoenicia and considered dispensing fertility of fields and animals. It was the beginning of religious corruption, moral evil, social injustices in Israel, culminating in crimes such as the murder of Naboth (1 Kings 21) and horrendous practices such as human sacrifices (1 Kings 16:34). Unexpectedly, there appeared on the scene a brave and resolute man who dares to challenge Jezebel, the queen who is at the peak of power and capable of disposing of the king’s seal at will. It is Elijah, the prophet coming from Thisbe, a town east of the Jordan. His words are scathing; his complaints burn like fire (Sirach 48:1). He threatens, calls for punishment of heaven, and works wonders and, for three years, orders the rain not to bedew the earth. He challenges the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and defeats them (1 Kings 18), but in the end, he must surrender. Jezebel is too strong and looks for him everywhere to get rid of him. He feels alone, abandoned by all; he is convinced that all the people have betrayed the Lord and have followed Baal and Ashtaroth. Elijah expected that his great victory over the false prophets of the Canaanite and Phoenician god Baal would result in the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom and their king repenting their sins of idol worship and apostasy from God’s holy covenant. He expected that they would turn back to Yahweh, destroying their pagan altars and driving out the false prophets. When this did not happen, Elijah felt his entire mission to call the Northern Kingdom of Israel to repentance had been a failure. Overcome with grief, he believed he had failed God and his people. But Elijah had not failed. On the contrary, he completed the mission God gave him; it was the people of the Northern Kingdom and their king who failed. After the failure of the people to repent, Elijah went into the desert, and sitting under the shade of a broom tree, confessed to God what he considered his and his people’s failure. Elijah needs strength and vigour that comes from food, bread, and the Lord makes him find it. The passage concludes: “On the strength of that food, he travelled for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God” (v. 8). In this context, the number forty recalls the forty years of Israel in the wilderness and symbolizes the whole life.

SECOND READING: Ephesians 4:30-5:2.
In this passage, St. Paul reminds the Christians of Ephesus that God the Holy Spirit has “sealed” us “for the day of redemption” in the Sacrament of Baptism. At the time Paul wrote this letter, owning slaves was very common. To avoid escape, an indelible mark, showing their definite belonging to a master, was branded on the skin of the slaves. Paul uses this image to define the condition of a Christian. In baptism, the disciple has received, from the fire of the Holy Spirit, a seal that shows his belonging to God. Baptized Christians can “grieve the Holy Spirit” when they do not live in the image of Christ in their new life but instead exhibit traits of the old, sinful life. St. Paul lists those traits of the past life in verse 31, as he also lists the characteristics of living in imitation of Christ in verse 32. We become imitators of God (5:1) in forgiving and loving as Christ loved us when He gave up His life on the altar of the Cross so that those who belong to Him might live eternally in His presence. It is a sacrifice of love that He also asks of us when, in the Eucharistic procession, we come forward to offer up our lives as a sacrifice to Him and to receive His life, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. The “fragrant aroma” in verse 5:2 recalls how the Old Testament represents sacrifices as “food” or a “pleasing aroma” for Yahweh (Gen 8:21; Ex 29:18; Lev 1:9; Num 28:2). However, the covenant people understood that an omnificent God did not need earthly nourishment or the pleasing smell of sacrifices (Ps 50:12-14; Sir 35:6-7/5-9). However, it was the “spiritual food” of the self-surrender of the covenant people that pleased God: For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased.  The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise (Ps 51:16-17 RSV; also see 1 Sam 15:22-23). God’s desire was for the quality of the sacrifice to unite to the righteousness of the offeror requesting forgiveness for his sins and restoration of fellowship with God. In the Old Covenant of Sinai, as in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus, God deserves the sacrifice of personal surrender and not the empty ritual of the material gift of the offeror. A sacrifice offered without prayer and the genuine contrition of a repentant heart is like a body offered without a soul; it is an empty and soulless gesture not worthy of a holy God. In the sacrifice of Christ in the Eucharist, we surrender our lives to Christ, and in turn, God gives us the life of God the Son to nourish us spiritually on our journey to God’s holy mountain in Heaven.

GOSPEL: John 6:41-51.
In this passage, Jesus used the symbolism of bread that was the “staff of life” for the people of His time to reveal that we need His glorified, resurrected flesh and blood as the “food” that nourishes and sustains us on our journey through life (Jn 6:54) as He testified, saying, “I AM the bread of life” (Jn 6:35). Baffled, the Jews did not speak directly to Jesus, but they murmur among themselves: “This man is the son of Joseph, isn’t he? We know his father and mother. How can he say that he has come from heaven?” To murmur does not mean to raise some reservations but to challenge, reject the provocative and scandalous affirmation that they have heard. The Jews murmur, that is, they refuse to follow this path that leads to God. They believe that it is inconceivable that a man can advance the claim to render the Lord present. They are frightened by the idea of a God who became man, convinced that the Almighty has his throne in the heavens, living far from the world and manifests his majesty and his strength through his miracles and mysterious voices. They cannot conceive that he reveals himself in a weak man, in a son of a carpenter. To grasp the passage’s message, it is important to identify “the stakeholders” of Jesus. The Evangelist calls them “Jews.” We are in Galilee, and, strangely, John calls people of Capernaum “Jews,” but they are “Galileans,” people who know the origin and the family of Jesus. In the Gospel of John, the word “Jew” does not have an ethnic-geographical connotation but is theological. It indicates anyone who takes a hostile attitude to Jesus and refuses to believe that he is God’s complete and definitive revelation. Jesus promised a new covenant meal that is literally and not symbolically His flesh and blood. In the Old Covenant, the sprinkling of the blood on the altar of sacrifice was symbolic of justification (being made “just” or “right” with God), and the burning of the flesh of the animal was symbolic of sanctification (consecration to God in holiness). Therefore, eating the sacrifice symbolized a redeemed covenant people in a mystical union with Yahweh. All animal sacrifices ended with the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70. But the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, offered on the altar of the Cross once and for all time, is present in the New Covenant Toda/”thanksgiving” sacred meal of the Eucharist. It is a true sacrifice continually represented as an unbloody offering of Christ for the forgiveness of sin and the sanctification of the covenant people in a sacred meal on the altars of every Catholic Church.  But for that sacrifice to be effective, the Lamb of God must still be eaten, not just by the priests but by every faithful New Covenant believer because they have all been called by our High Priest, Jesus Christ, into a royal priesthood of believers. St. Peter wrote: But you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people to be a personal possession (1 Pt 2:9; also see 1 Pt 2:5; Rev 1:6; 5:1-10, and CCC#1546).  The New Covenant requires that we must eat the sacrifice in a sacred meal to reestablish peace with God. At the Last Supper, Jesus commanded us to “do this” (Lk 22:19-20; 1 Cor 11:23-25) to receive His promise of eternal life, as He said in the Bread of Life Discourse: “whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). In our New Covenant, Jesus gives us food for our journey so that we can reach our goal of eternity on God’s holy mountain in the heavenly Kingdom that He has promised us.

LESSONS FROM THE READINGS. 

1. In the experience of Elijah, it should be noted that God does not take the prophet away from the test; he does not relieve him from fatigue, does not exempt him from the arduous journey, or transport him miraculously by an angel. The desert must be crossed and the difficulties he must face. He offers him the necessary food, and that is enough.

2. The story of Elijah is ours. There are times when we feel like the prophet, deeply disappointed, and we do not even find comfort in God, in faith, in the brothers and sisters of the community. At those times and moments,  may we never lose sight that is always with us and He will come to our aid.

3. The ideas or views we assimilate can make us grow and become better. They can also destroy us if those ideas spur us to live contrary to the gospel principles. Thus, what we assimilate matters a lot.
4. For parents and guardians of children and young people, care should be taken on what they are exposed to about ideas, teachings, music, videos and news. These influence them a lot. Boko Haram extremists and suicide bombers were exposed to ideas and teachings which made it easier for them to be brainwashed. 
5. Sealed in the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians should feed themselves always with the Word of life from the Scriptures. There lies their strength and joy in living out the gospel.

6. Someone feeds on the word of Christ, the bread of life; a few others hesitate or are unable to understand it. The reason—says Jesus—is that no one can come to Him unless drawn by the Father who sent him (v. 44). The discovery of the “bread of heaven” is not an achievement of man but a gift of the Father.

7. Feeding ourselves with the Bread of life exposes us to the Light which dispels every darkness within us. Such an exposure, leads us to the truth which shows us the way to authentic living.

CONCLUSION. 
As I conclude this homily, let us reflect on these important questions: Do I let myself be taught by the Spirit of Christ, or, as the “Jews” of Jesus’ time, reject the “bread of heaven” and prefer the food of death? What do I feed my soul daily with? What views, ideas, music, pictures, videos am I exposed to?  Is there any bad addiction that is eating me up just as it did in the life of Alessandro? My dearest ones, Jesus is the Bread of Life, we should go to him that He may give us eternal life. God is the giver of life, and He alone can sustain our lives. He gave Elijah the Bread of Life which sustained him on his journey to Horeb.  Today, we have Jesus, the Bread of Life for our sustenance. Thus, no matter the situation we find ourselves in, let us remember that only Jesus can sustain us for He says: “I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly “(John 10:10). May God continue to bless and sustain us.
HAPPY SUNDAY MY BELOVED ONES. 

FR. EBUKA PRAYS FOR YOU.