Monday, April 23, 2012

Why am I seeking Jesus? (Fr Paul Hinnebusch)




Father Paul Hinnebusch, O.P. STM (1917-2002), a was Dominican preacher and prolific author, Bible scholar, and well-loved spiritual director. He was a teacher in the charismatic renewal, and his best selling book, Praise - A Way of Life, has influenced the spiritual growth of many people, at the sae time bridging the gap between liturgical and spontaneous expressions of prayer. Go HERE to the website packed full of his teachings, including homilies for Sunday and weekday Masses. The following is his homily on today's Gospel (John 6:22-29): 


“The crowd” . . . came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.” (John 6:24) But they were looking for him for the wrong reasons. Jesus said to them, “You are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” (John 6:26) 

Each one of us needs to ask ourself, “Am I looking for Jesus?” 

“Yes”, you answer. But why am I looking for him? Take the people at Capernaum; am I looking for him as one who will serve my self-centered interests and purposes, one who will fill my belly with food? Or am I looking for him because I have understood the meaning of the signs he worked? 

These signs point to Jesus as the one “on whom the Father, God, has set His seal.” (John 6:27) That is, the miracles he worked have certified him as one authorized and empowered by God. Jesus was fully aware of his authority and power and mission. He declares his authority when he calls himself the one on whom the Father, God, has set his seal. And as we heard in the reading on Friday, as Jesus prepared to feed the five thousand with five loaves, St John, in telling the story says pointedly, “He himself knew what He was going to do.” (John 6:6) 

He is fully aware of exactly what he is authorized by God to do. The sign itself indicates what this is. He says to the crowd, “You are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” You completely missed the meaning of the sign, the feeding of the five thousand. You are looking only for bodily food and the satisfaction of bodily, earthly needs. But I say, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For, on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” (John 6:27) 

The feeding of the five thousand with five loaves, then, is the sign that Jesus is certified by God, authorized and empowered to nourish us for eternal life. In tomorrow’s reading, he will go on to say that he himself is “the bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:51) He is the living bread, the life-giving bread, which nourishes us for eternal life; and that eternal life is full communion in God’s own life. 

So I need to ask myself again, “Why am I looking for Jesus?” Am I turning to him as the Servant of my self-centered, earthly purposes? Or am I ardently looking for him as the one who alone can fulfill my deepest, truest need, my need for eternal life, for full communion with God in loving intimacy? 

Are all my daily efforts and labors only for perishable things? Or am I dead serious in cultivating the divine life in my heart? Am I seeking above all else a life of intimate communion with my Lord and God? 

“Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:27)


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