August 10, 2015
NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
AUGUST 8/9, 2015
Some people walk into a room or a house for the first time and they remember every detail; others do the same and can’t remember hardly anything. It’s called being sensate: some people’s sense of sight is more acute than others. Actually, all of our senses help us to take in the world around us, not just our sense of sight.
One of the things we discover in the scriptures is that God uses all of our sense to help us to experience Him and to take Him in, if you will. And that becomes abundantly clear as we have the readings these weeks about the Bread of Life.
The responsorial psalm today encourages us to “Taste and See the goodness of the Lord”. Our sense of taste leads us to greater sight , a greater understanding of who God is. In our first reading Elijah the prophet is so discouraged that he asks God to take his life. Instead the Lord feeds him with bread and quenches his thirst with a jug of water. God thus revives His spirit and through his sense of taste.
In the Gospel reading Jesus reminds the people that everyone who listens to the father, learns from Him and is drawn to Jesus. The sense of hearing plays and important roles in receiving the Word of God.
Finally Jesus reiterates that by eating the Bread come down from heaven, one is guaranteed to live forever. Taste and See the goodness of God.
All of this just reaffirms the extent God goes to be in our lives and to bring us the gift of salvation. Our senses are an amazing gift God has given to us. And God uses everyone of them to teach us of his unfailing goodness and love.