A Knight's Tale

18th Sunday In Ordinary Time
02 August 2009



We are God’s people, the sheep of his flock: come, let us worship him, alleluia.

First reading Exodus 16:2-4,12-15
The whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!’

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each day the people are to go out and gather the day’s portion; I propose to test them in this way to see whether they will follow my law or not.

'I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel. Say this to them, “Between the two evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have bread to your heart’s content. Then you will learn that I, the Lord, am your God.”’

And so it came about: quails flew up in the evening, and they covered the camp; in the morning there was a coating of dew all round the camp. When the coating of dew lifted, there on the surface of the desert was a thing delicate, powdery, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to one another, ‘What is that?’ not knowing what it was. ‘That’ said Moses to them ‘is the bread the Lord gives you to eat.’

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 77:3-4,23-25,54

Second reading Ephesians 4:17,20-24
I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live. Now that is hardly the way you have learnt from Christ, unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus. You must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.

Gospel John 6:24-35
When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’

Jesus answered:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs
but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.
Do not work for food that cannot last,
but work for food that endures to eternal life,
the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,
for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’

Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’ So they said, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus answered:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven,
it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven,
the true bread;
for the bread of God
is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.’
‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:
‘I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never be hungry;
he who believes in me will never thirst.’

Reflection
By Gharri Tulabut

When I was 10 years old, I applied to join the Knights Of The Blessed Sacrament a.k.a. the altar boys in our parish in Pampanga. During our orientation meeting, the knight commander asked “Why do you want to become a knight?” All of us would answer “We want to serve God!” almost in unison. Then we would hear other knights and squires ask with smirks in their faces “Are you sure not just to impress girls?” Every neophyte replied with conviction, “No Sir!”

A few years ago, we had this community program at work where we teach the out-of-school youth who wanted to continue their studies through a government placement exam. We went to their communities every weekend and tutor them on different subjects until the exams take place. The reception by the students, the barangay officials, and the parents was warm. Although most students take the courses seriously, still I could find one or two who were taking the project lightly. I couldn’t help but think if they were there to learn or just for the free food, supplies and shirts that were also provided.

Just recently, a friend approached me and said he wanted to join me in my Catholic charismatic fellowship. I remember him saying “I heard so much about the speaker and I am curious about how good he is.” I told him that he is not always the speaker. “Oh is there a way to know? Coz he’s the point why I wanted to attend” continued my friend. “If he’s the only reason why you want to go there, then just watch him on TV every Sunday, listen to him on the radio daily, catch him on the web 24/7, or just read his books and magazines!” Oh how I wanted to tell him that! But it’s good I was able to control myself or else I became an instrument in stopping one soul to experience a wonderful celebration of God’s love.

In our Gospel reading for today, Christ questioned the motives of the multitude who were following Him. Is it because of their faith or is it because the food satisfied them? Is it spiritual hunger they wanted to fill or is it physical?

Friends, I invite you to examine ourselves. Why do we join outreach programs? Is it really to help the needy or to post pogi pictures in Facebook? Why do we join a fellowship? Because we want to experience God or because it is “cool” and it is the “in” thing? Why do we join a “singles” group? To find someone who will join you in “couples” someday? Why do we prefer a young priest from an old one who could barely utter the texts from the Missal? What if we don’t like the priest? Are we just going to skip that Mass? Why do we even pray? Out of duty or out of love and gratitude? Do we have the right purpose in doing things? What are our reasons in doing good works either spiritual or material? Do we have the right motives? I will let you answer these and many other questions you may add because only you, my friend, with the help of the Holy Spirit, know yourself, your reasons, your purpose and your motives.

By the way, we might not have admitted or realized it then, but yes, most neophyte altar boys (or even the older ones) were there to impress girls. That includes me. Oh, we were just kids! The important thing is we learned as we grow up that there is a higher reason than just to impress anybody. That is to impress God.









Lord, Grant that we may find You as the reason in everything we do! Amen!