Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)

August 22, 2015 4:30 pm  · Deacon Keith Boswell

Homilies, Ordinary Time

For the several weeks, we have been hearing Gospel readings called the Bread of Life Discourse. Last week Jesus said, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life." Up until this point, Jesus was the next best thing. He was the local boy made good. The lives of people in Jesus' time were pretty predictable. For the most part people scraped out a day to day existence. And to have someone come along who could perform miracles, well, was amazing.

People came from all over the area to be part of it. No one wanted to be left out. Then Jesus started crazy talk. What's all this bout eating his body and drinking his blood? That's disgusting. As it said today's Gospel, as a result of this many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus was asking those following him to make an enormous leap of faith.