“Lord to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” These words from Peter at the end of today’s Gospel have been on my mind a lot recently. As we have faced the fallout from various abuse scandals, the recent revelations from the Residential Schools, and a whole host of other problems in our Church and our world, doubts may begin to arise in our hearts and minds as to whether it is worth it to even be a part of the Church anymore. Sadly, there have been many people in recent days who have “turned back”, and have indicated that they no longer wish to be a part of the Catholic Church.
Peter’s question in today’s Gospel causes us to stop and think about the reasons why we are Catholic. Who do we put our faith in? Is our Faith in the people who make up the Church- the Pope, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and laypeople? Or is our Faith in Jesus Christ? In a recent homily, one of my Seminary Classmates, Fr. David Michael Moses, reflected on this question, and made some very poignant observations. He reminded his congregation that the people who make up the Church come and go. Priests come and go. Bishops come and go. Good and caring priests come and go, and so do ones who are a little more difficult to get along with. Through all of that, Christ is the one thing that is constant- specifically Christ present in the Eucharist.
It is our relationship to Christ that is the main reason that we are Catholic. If our faith is in anything less, we can easily find ourselves being disappointed when confronted with the faults and failings of individuals in the Church. It is only when our faith is in Christ that we can see past the failings of individuals, and see that God’s promises still remain true, even when people who represent the Church act in ways contrary to the Faith.
I want to be clear- I don’t say this to try and excuse the actions of people who have done evil in the name of the Church, or to try and minimize those evil actions. We are all called, as brothers and sisters in Christ, to hold each other accountable on our journey to Heaven, and to rectify evil when we see it occurring in our midst. We are called to strive always for greater holiness, and to conform ourselves more and more to Christ every day. And when we are confronted with the reality of evil, we are called to turn to Christ, who has already won the ultimate victory over sin and death, and ask him to strengthen our hope in his promises. Christ strengthens that hope through the Eucharist.
As we come to the end of our reading of the Bread of Life Discourse, my prayer for each of us is that we have learned to more truly appreciate the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and recognize that he alone is the reason for our hope. May he strengthen that hope, and help us to follow the “words of eternal life,” until the day that we are united in the fullness of joy and peace in God’s Kingdom.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Steven Huber, CSB