Get yourself a life coach says an online ad and you can ‘turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.’ At some point in our lives, it may serve a purpose but contrast it with a local parish which decided to have a weekly meal for anyone who wished to come along.

On the first occasion they had nine guests and eleven helpers, and they responded to this potential embarrassment by everyone eating together. “It was coming together and a blessing I felt,” said one of the organisers.

We can see here how the ordinary stuff of our lives, eating together, can be the context for something quite unexpected to happen. The life coach ad invites us to take control of our lives and make it happen, whereas in the parish setting, something else happened.

It relates to what we hear in the first reading. The prophet Elijah is in a dark place, alone and hungry, wanting to die. In the midst of his desolation, he is fed by an angel, and comes to understand God is present in what he’s living through. In doing so he discovers a renewed purpose. The food he’s given enables him to make the long journey to Mt Horeb (Sinai), the holy mountain, where God speaks to him. Desolation, the gift of food, the long journey – in the ordinariness of our lives, quite unexpectedly, we may come to discover the presence of God. 

Again, in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he speaks of our daily commitment to loving one another as Jesus loves us; learning to befriend each other whatever our differences; avoiding the petty behaviours which bring us undone. Our learning to love in this way is enabled by the Holy Spirit, who reveals the unending love of the Father and Son. We’re slowly learning to open ourselves to a God who loves us, come what may.

In the gospel, when Jesus says, “I am the bread from heaven,” the authorities are shocked. They insist he’s not from heaven, he’s a local boy, we know his father. In other words, he’s too ordinary. Then, amid their complaints, Jesus speaks of his divine origins and reminds us, this is Gods’ initiative, to which we’re invited to respond.

We’re asked to let go of our securities and our prejudices and open ourselves to a bigger God, a loving God. A little like the moment at the parish meal when they decided to eat together. This is the God who draws us into Christ and into unending life, through our eating together with him. Jesus gives us his life and invites us to do the same – to give of our lives.

Before the parish meal, with everyone’s agreement, they prayed, and concluded their prayer with these words: ‘Thank you Lord for the blessings you have given us in our lives, especially one another. Amen.’ Often, we may yearn for a special experience of God, only to miss the presence of God here, in our lives.      

Damian Coleridge

© Majellan Media 2024