The Catholic Calendar for Sunday, August 13, 2006
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
1 Kings 19:4-8
Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Ephesians 4:30—5:2
John 6:41-51

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

Have you ever been so discouraged that you wanted to die? Elijah was. And, ironically, he had every reason to be cheered by his success against the false prophets of Ba-al. Before an audience of many hundreds, he had called down fire from heaven to consume a damp and soggy pile of wood and animal carcasses. And God did what he asked! Now, fleeing for his life, he becomes despondent, lies down, and goes to sleep! Now, sleep sometimes cures our downcast spirits, and we can shake off our despondency. Sometimes prayer will help. In any case, God took matters into His own hands, and sent an angel to wake him—and feed him. It wasn’t a seven-course dinner, but it gave Elijah the strength to walk 300 miles to Mt. Horeb, where God renewed His covenant with sinful Israel.

We must never let Satan or our own emotions keep us from doing all the good God wants us to accomplish. We must never give up, but rather turn to prayer for nourishment. Sometimes, we need to stir ourselves into action by reaching out to someone that we can encourage or assist in their need.

St. Paul urges us in the second reading today, not to “sadden” the Holy Spirit. It may come as a surprise that the Holy Spirit can feel so deeply, and, like humans, can be saddened. What sadden Him are our bitterness, quarreling, shouting, ingratitude, and lack of forgiveness. What gladdens the Spirit is our kindness and patience with one another. We are reminded to be imitators of Christ, and to live in love. What great advice. If we want to get rid of despondency and discouragement, we only need to imitate the Savior, and be ourselves “bread" for others.

Msgr. Paul Whitmore
(pwhitmore29 at yahoo dot com)