19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

August 8, 2021 (St. Dominic)

1. The Gospel today recounts how the Jews murmured about Jesus because Jesus said, “I am the
bread that came down from heaven.” They did not believe Jesus because what they saw is only
his outward appearance. The Jews then complained, “Is this not Jesus the Son of Joseph.”
2. Throughout history, the Lord God uses simple and ordinary persons and things in order to make
his greatness and power known. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Joshua all of them were
ordinary persons. But because they are ordinary and simple persons that the Lord was able to
manifest HIS GREATNESS.
3. In the same way, At the last supper Jesus Christ instituted the Eucharist. He gathered his
disciples around him. And in the context of a meal, he leaves us a memorial of his fellowship
with his disciples: He took bread. He blessed it. Gave it to his disciples and said that the bread
that he took is His body. And in the same way, he took the cup filled with wine and assured his
disciples that this is his blood.
4. Mga simpleng mga bagay – tinapay at alak. Sa ating paningin, ito’y mga ordinaryong mga bagay.
But through the eyes of faith, sa pamamagitan ng mga mata ng pananampalataya, we see in this
ordinary materials of bread wine the BODY and BLOOD of Christ. All this because of our faith in
the words of Jesus who said, “This is my Body” – “this is my Blood.”
5. At Mass, there are silent prayers which the priest utters. During the preparation of the altar, the
priests says over the bread –
“blessed are you Lord God of all creation through your goodness we have received the bread we
offer. Fruit of the earth and work of human hand. It will become for us the bread of life.”
6. Who would ever think that a simple bread and wine will become for us the presence of Christ as
a memorial of His great love for mankind. In the same way, during the time of Jesus, who would
ever think that a carpenter’s Son – the son of Joseph and Mary – is also the Messiah, the Son of
God.
7. The bread and the wine, in representing the Body and Body and blood of Christ, represent also
each and every one of us – it represents the bare us – the ordinary us – with our weaknesses
and short comings – with our proneness to sin – everything in us. But these things that make up
our human nature, both its goodness and its weaknesses, are moments wherein the grace of
God abounds. We recall what St. Paul says in his 2 nd Letter to the Corinthians, “I am not afraid of
my weaknesses and shortcoimings. For it is then that I am strong.”
8. The ordinariness that is us – with its sins and faults – are moments that allow us to search for
redemption. These are occasion that make us want to be whole. And we can only be whole and
redeemed if we turn to the Lord – if we do not tire in constantly seeking for the Lord even if we
falter many times.
9. The Eucharist is an overflowing source of grace. It is a reminder that God is never tired of
renewing us – that God never grows weary in waiting for us – that God never gives up on us.

I. Humility is Greatness.
10. How could it be that the Lord of all the earth chose to become food for us? How could it be that
a great God be contained in a small bread – a host – a wafer to some? Dito natin nakikita ang
nararanasan ang kadakilaan ng Diyos. God is powerful that is why he can choose to become
weak. Ang tunay na kapangyarihan ay hindi lamang sa dahas at pagmamalabis, sa pagcocontrol
at pananakot – True power can bend itself in the humility of human weakness. Ang tunay na
kapangyarihan ay yung kakayanang maging mahina at ordinary upang sa pagiging mahina at
ordinary, nasasamahan nito ang mga mahihina at ordinaryo. At sa kanyang pagsama sa mga
mahihina at ordinary, nagagawa niyang iaangat at bigyan ng dignidad ang mga mahihina at
 ordinaryo. True power empowers. It empowers by becoming weak like us – human like us – and
in doing so, it ennobles us – it lifts us – it raises us to the dignity of God’s possession.

11. We have seen and experienced this in Jesus. Although he is God, he chose to become man like
us. So that in becoming like us, he has shown us how to become truly human – and to be truly
human is to be united with God. And eternal Life is to be united with God.
12. The Jews mocked Jesus because, for them, he is too ordinary to be a GOD. THIS is a challenge for
us who make up the Church, to be more welcoming and merciful towards all people. The Church
must then be a place of both sinners and saints, both the redeemed and those who are in need
of redemption, those who have shortcomings and those who have gifts.
13. Like the bread and the wine that is transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, What matters
in the Church are not what we think we can give neither the things we lack – WHAT matters is
our openness and readiness to be changed by God – THAT we allow the Lord to make use of us
as vessels of His grace and his instruments of making people experience his renewal and
transformation.
14. Today, we ask the Lord, to renew us. To teach us to see with his eyes. And to love with his own
heart. teach us Jesus to see the good in people. To acknowledge your presence in them. And to
love them as you have loved us. Amen.