Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Friends,

In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks us: “Do you want to leave me?”

For the last several weeks, our Sunday Gospels have focused on the Bread of Life discourse in John, where Jesus explains to his disciples that he is the Bread of Life, and that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood to remain with him and to live forever. Jesus’s followers had never heard anything like this, and some cannot accept such a difficult teaching. As the weight of what Jesus is saying sinks in, many listening to him begin to fall away and to leave, deciding that they can’t follow Jesus if it means accepting this puzzling teaching. Jesus then turns to the Twelve, his closest disciples and asks, “Do you also want to leave?”

I don’t know about you, but there have been many times during my life as a Christian where I have wrestled with teachings of the Church, or have found it difficult to live in total accord with God’s commandments. At times like these, it can be tempting to walk away, or to think to myself, “is this worth it? Surely Jesus is asking too much of me.” Sometimes I look at my friends who are outside of the Church and feel like life must be easier or more fun in their shoes.

But, when Jesus looks at me and asks “Do you also want to leave?” I find myself feeling like St. Peter, and realizing that I don’t want to turn away. While there can be challenges to living life in the Church, it’s also the only place where I have felt fully alive, and fully known and loved. It’s only in my life with Christ that I’ve experienced authentic truth, beauty, and goodness. It’s only in my life as a Christian where I’ve learned that suffering has meaning, my sins are not who I am, and the material world is not all there is. It’s only in my Catholic life that I have experienced true and profound joy. So even when walking with Jesus gets difficult, I know that I can continue to trust him and follow him, and I find myself echoing Peter, “where else should I go?” and just like Joshua in the first reading, I feel the peaceful conviction that “as for me...I will serve the Lord.”