The Word Of Peace
Homiletic Reflections On Peacemaking

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Bread of Survival 1997

One of the most influential philosophers of the last two centuries, F. Nietzeche in his book, Thus Spake Zarathustra wrote: "I am Zarathustra, the godless: I keep cooking for myself in my pot every kind of chance. And only when it is well cooked through, do I welcome it as my food. And verily, many a chance came to me domineeringly; yet more domineeringly did my Will speak to it--and at once it lay there implorlingly on its knees"  This "bread" that Nietzeche ate was one of a Will to domination and subjugation of others and nature. It is the bread of selfish assertion over others without God. It is going it alone, humanity being a prisoners of their own devices without God. This is the way humanity so often has exercised its role in the last two centuries with nature, between nations and individuals. The result for our world has lead to an unprecedented improvement in standards of living in US and Western Europe. Never have so many people enjoyed life. Yet it has also had the result that 800,000,000 people are permanently hungry; every minute the world spends 1.8 million dollars on armaments; every day a species becomes extinct; the top 2% of U.S. families own 80% of the Stocks on the NY Exchange; half the world's people, nearly 2 1/2 billion live in countries where the annual per capita income is $400 or less; and there still exists the doomsday stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. In short, humanity apart from God has led to a world of great and dangerous disparities. 

But there are other things too ! Families are being pulled in so many directions, placed under severe forms of stress; there have never been so many lonely people in our crowded cities and nursing homes; so many children with no one to tuck them in at night. So much of this flows from individuals, nations and corporations asserting the will to control and dominate--eating their own bread, rather than the bread of life!

" I am the Bread of Life"-- these words are recognized by every Christian as identifying the reality of Jesus. Jesus is the Father's nourishment for a hungry world. A world that hungers to be rid of fear, violence, oppression, abuse and loneliness. It is a world that desires to grow and to thrive--to develop strong bones and sinews. The Father of our Lord comes to us in the nourishing Son--whose life, words, healings, death and resurrection offer us real life. This is a gift of God; it is miraculous in its effects to transform hunger and despair into a banquet and hope in accepting God's host in Jesus. 

Our episode in John's gospel for today has Jesus nourishing the people at a large gathering. This story is an extremely important one for Christians. It is one of the few that we find in all four gospels! It is based on the memory of a time when Jesus served as Host at a meal that pointed to the miraculous and transforming presence and future arrival of the Father's reign. The nourishment that Jesus offers is no the domination of others or nature--it is based on sharing and sacrifice. He calls all to participate with him in this way of being ! That is to be the hallmark of all who participate with Jesus at table--sharing, sacrifice and nourishing others. It means accepting the life pattern of Jesus as one's own.

Jesus calls us then to a new way of being in the world and being with others. It is no less than what one Catholic writer called an "anthropological revolution"; which is a fancy way of saying- a conversion of heart, that shows itself in a mode of living not characterized by a will to dominate others and nature, but rather one characterized by sharing and sacrificing power and those goods essential to human growth. It is this mode of living that is the key for the transforming power of God to come to earth. It is this mode of living that will break down the barriers that separate; it is this mode of living that will save our planet, our families ourselves. In this life all will have more than enough to survive and thrive.

This is only possible however if humanity recognizes that it is by God's initiative that such things are possible. That is why John has Philip puzzling over how is it they can feed so many with so little. Left to his own devices he cannot. But in the mode of sharing there will be more than enough!

That is the thrust of the letter to the Eph. Participating in God's spirit brings peace and the humility to recognize that we are not gods of God.   It is the recognition that in Jesus God is working to bring all to successful completion in this world and the next.

The experience of the abundance wrought by Jesus' actions at this meal led many of the people to want to proclaim him king. But Jesus fled back to the mountains alone. Why ? because he did not want people to believe that he was going to take care of everything for all of them. He is not interested in dictatorship--even a benign one ! For this is not the way of the Father. This was captured by the former Prime minister of Great Britain, William Gladstone when he remarked: "dictatorship is the negation of God erected into a system of government". And Jesus will none of that! Instead of a " do it for us" mentality. Jesus calls us to " a work with him" mentality--he wants followers and partners to be nourishment to the world. Jesus bring real life and freedom. It is the freedom to live a life of connectedness to others and the world rather than exploitation. It is the freedom to love as Jesus loved knowing that we will lack for nothing and get from the Father all we need and more to find true life.

In short, our being nourished by the Lord calls us to revolution. Revolution in our selves, in our relationship to others and our world. This revolution, of course cannot exclusively be one new technology, economic growth or political change. It must be all that, but animated by a change of heart--one that seeks to share and sacrifice in the power of the Bread of Life. This revolution was described by the World Synod of Bishops in 1971 when it stated: "Hope in the coming kingdom is already beginning to take root in the hearts of human beings. The radical transformation of the world in the paschal mystery of the Lord gives full meaning to the efforts of people, and in particular of the young, to lessen injustice, violence and hatred and to advance all together in justice, freedom and love. At the same time as it proclaims the gospel of the Lord, its redeemer and saviour, the Church calls on all. especially the poor, the oppressed and the afflicted, to co-operate with God to bring about liberation from every sin and to build a world which will reach the fullness of creation only when it becomes the work of people for people."

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Uploaded January 14, 2000