Taste and See the Goodness of God

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

I have really enjoyed watching the Olympics,

especially when I was away on vacation.

I had so much time and I was watching quite a bit.

I saw sports I did not even know were sports!

I had to learn whole new sports and

it was fun learning some of these games.

I really did not know that some were Olympic sports at all.

Like the break dancing, did you know it is actually a sport?

But they were pretty amazing actually in what they do.

It was certainly helpful that we won so many medals as the USA,

but what stood out for me for is

not so much the medals as the moments.

There have been so many special moments

throughout all of the games.

Some of them are smaller moments and some of them are bigger.

I do not know whether it was the medals going to

so many different nations who have never won medals before.

Among them, by the way, was Ireland

who won four gold and three bronze.

It is just wonderful to see it.

Or whether it was Botswana winning the 200 meter.

They were just so brilliant and

it was the first medals they have ever had won.

They are a relatively new nation.

Or how could we forget the Filipino Carlos Yulo

getting several gold medals in the gymnastic.

He is now a national hero who is been given all sorts sponsorships;

now he is a millionaire and colonoscopy for life!

Of course, how could we not be just

enlivened and enriched by Simone Biles.

She just smiles whether she wins or loses,

she is just smiling, beaming with pride

for being able to do what she does.

I do not know whether it is because,

the Peacock network has done a good job

so you can watch whatever sport you want.

You can pick whatever you want and you get highlights.

It is just been wonderful.

It is the goodness and the best of humanity on display.

It is what we ought to see.

France and Paris did a fantastic job on hosting the Olympics.

It is such a wonderful counterpoint to

so much we listen to in the news.

It is such a relief for the human spirit.

Because all we ever seem to see or hear is all bad news.

Of course, that is what sells, right?

And that is what is more addictive,

the negative is always more addictive.

But it is such a relief to watch this, the best of humanity.

And it is such a relief and joy to watch.

I cannot help but think of that phrase from St. Ireneus.

“The glory of God is man, fully alive.”

Think of it, here are these sport contestants all over the world

 who have worked for years to get to this point.

How could you not look at that and see humanity fully alive,

the goodness of God and glory of God?

And even when they lose, they congratulate one another.

It is just the goodness of God out there.

It is something that we need to remind ourselves everywhere,

not just in the Olympics,

the goodness of humanity is on display all around us

if we but take the time to look and see it.

It is like that responsorial psalm says to

“Taste and see the goodness of God.”

We need to pause and take in what God has given us.

Of course, that is why we come to the Eucharist,

to remind us to taste and see here.

But it is not enough to just taste and see here.

We are called to taste and see out there.

Jesus comes to give us the bread of life here

so that we can become the bread of life out there.

That is the circle of life.

That is the virtuous circle.

That is the goodness of humanity alive.

You see at the time that Jesus was saying this,

his hearers, the religious leaders in the Pharisees and Sadducees,

took offense with him because they knew who he was.

This is where the old phrase,

“Familiarity breeds contempt,” comes in.

What good could come from somebody in the family whom we knew.

They refuse to see anew.

Ironically, they are not upset that he claims to be the bread of life.

Or that he gives his flesh as bread for the world.

They are upset that he says he came from heaven.

They said, “Well, how can you come from heaven?

We know where you are from.

We know your mother and your father.

You are just one of us.

You canot be anything special because you are one of us.”

That is why I love the Olympics.

It says, “Yeah, they are one of us, but they are special.”

They are one of us but they they have done something

that has not someimtes done before. But in so many ways,

all of us have that specialness.

All of us have that potentiality for specialness.

But we have to allow that into our hearts.

And then we have to be willing to share with others.

That is the reason we come to the table.

We come to the table to see the bread of life.

But again, as I said earlier,

we are then called to become the bread of life to others.

So what does that all mean?

This is all great and wonderful,

but what does that mean for our day life?

What does that mean for us this week here and now?

What are we called to do?

We are called to celebrate the gift and the goodness

around us in our own families.

The gift of love in our immediate family.

The gift of your love of your spouse,

of your children, of your parents.

The gift of extended family who love us,

of all of friends who love us.

And we must be willing to not just see it, but celebrate it.

To see the goodness of humanity right around us

and not to get so familiar with those around us

that we no longer see the goodness.

That is the danger.

We dull our senses to the ordinariness of what is around us.

And we are called to celebrate the ordinariness

and that is what we come to do here today.

To receive it, celebrate it, and then we are called to become it,

to become what we receive the spread of life for others.

So what would that look like?

Let me give you a couple of quick examples

and then you kind of have to noodle it for yourselves

and figure out how to do it in your life.

So first, we give the opportunity for people

to become their better selves.

Giving them the room to be their best selves.

What do I mean by that?

Let me give you an example.

Imagine there was somebody who in your life

that has hurt you, legitimately offended you and hurt you.

It is not in your perception, it is real.

They said or did something that was offensive and you remember it.

Now fast forward to where you are today.

Maybe that is five years, maybe that is three years.

Maybe that is six months. Maybe it is 20 years.

Assume that they have gone through some metanoia experience,

that they have changed.

They are somebody different, they have an offense,

they have gone through a change.

Are we willing to accept that and

welcome them back into our lives in some way?

The chances are that most of us will say

“No, not a chance, no way.

I am not giving you opportunity to hurt me again, number one.

Number two is I do not care if you have changed

the consequence for your behavior is you are dead to me.”

And there are people who bring that all the way to their grave.

The problem is it is not part of the gospel.

That is not the witness to the gospel.

The witness to the gospel is to allow

people the opportunity to be converted.

And so here is the part, the reason why that is so important,

because that person might be us.

We are the ones who have gone through conversion.

I hope if we are coming here week after week,

I hope we are having small conversions every week

where in fact we are different.

And we hope that others will give us the chance

to say that we are different now.

We have to expect that of others

when we have become different from our child.

I can think of a lot of people that I have said or done things

to in my early years that I wish I had not,

I did not intend to hurt them,

but I did hurt them because I said or did things in my youth

that were probably unwise or selfish or unkind.

But I would like to think that I am different today.

And will any of those people give me the chance to see me is different.

I do not know.

All I know I can do is be different

and give other people the chance to be different.

See, we have no control of other people’s actions.

All we have is control over is our own.

I am just giving you that one example

of how we can make a difference about

becoming the bread of life for others.

Let us treasure this moment that we have today.

Let us not wait another year

because we do not know if we will have another year.

Let us do it now. Let us seize this moment.

And when we come forward to receive the bread of life, we say,

“Amen. Yes, I promise to become the bread of life first.”

I promise to see and taste the goodness of God all around me.

And I promise then to give others the opportunity

to taste and to see that goodness around me.

Today we want to celebrate the God who has come among us to say,

“I am the bread of life come down from heaven.”

Let us become the bread of life for others to taste and see.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.