…Disciples Returned to Their Former Way of Life

                                                                         (John 6:66b)

Five weeks ago we started reading chapter 6 of John’s Gospel.  The whole chapter is dedicated to Jesus’ description of Himself as the ‘Bread of Life’.  The chapter begins with the Feeding of the 5,000.  But by the end of the chapter nearly all 5,000 people have walked away from Jesus.  Only some committed disciples and the 12 apostles remained.

But then, even the committed disciples became disillusioned with Jesus when He claimed that anyone who ate His flesh and drank His blood would have eternal life.  As a result of that, verse 66 says that “many of His disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him.” 

What strikes me about that sentence is that following Jesus meant that people had to adopt a ‘new way of life'. What do you think that means?

How does being a disciple affect your way of life?

Being a disciple affects my priorities.  It helps me make better choices.  It forces me to be honest with myself.  And, people on the margins are more visible to me.       

If you returned to your former way of life, what would that mean?

If I returned to my former way of life, I think I’d be a mess!     

                                                             Soul Food

This not a blog about African-American cuisine.  It’s a blog about food for our souls. Ron Rolheiser calls our souls the ‘fire inside us that give us life and energy, and the glue that holds us together’.  And he says that, just like our bodies need to be nourished, so do our souls. 

What has been food for your soul in the last couple of days?

Yesterday I found a prayer that I’d lost years ago.  It's food for my soul and maybe it'll be that for you too. “O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world lies hushed, and the fever of life is over and our work is done.  Then in your mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last.”

Today food for my soul is the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe.  Aug. 14 is his feast day.  He was a prisoner in Auschwitz. In retaliation for an escaped prisoner, the commandant chose 10 men to be killed.  One of them wept because he wouldn’t see his children again. Maximilian took his place. And that fellow was present at St. Maximilian’s canonization.

What has been food for your soul in the last couple of days?    

                                                             Beetle Poop!

God gave manna to the Jews on their journey to the Promised Land. It came from the excretion of desert beetles which formed cocoons. The morning dew weighed them down and they fell off the bushes to which they were attached. They gathered the cocoons and pounded them into a flour that made very nutritious bread.  Not bad for beetle poop!

Last weekend I mentioned beetle poop in my homily. Afterwards a couple friends told me about a conversation they had about that.  And they were drawn to the idea that sometimes God also works thru the crap in our lives. 

   

I like that idea.  And I know the truth of it from my own experiences.  Can you think of any examples of that in your life? 

For many years I struggled with the issue of not loving myself.  But little by little that’s changing with God’s help. The result is that I’m gaining a healthier picture of who I am. And an even better result is that now I can even help others deal with similar issues. 

If you can see how God has helped you deal with something crappy in your life, make it a point to tell someone about it.  Maybe God (and you) can help them too.