Belief In God Brings Us Eternal Life! Relativism Rejects God And Moral Absolutes!

 

Prior to him becoming Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger gave a homily that warned the world about a new threat to human freedom and dignity he called “The Dictatorship of Relativism.”  He said: “We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires.”

Jesus in St. John’s Gospel today tells us He is the Bread of Life that offers eternal life if we believe in and follow Him.  The Jews seem to be more caught up in Ad Hominem arguments that attack the person instead of considering the statement the person made.  “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?  Do we not know his father and mother?  Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven,’?” in response to Jesus’ claim that He is the Bread of Life.

The negativity against Jesus and His explanation by the Jews comes after He fed them with loaves and fish, heard He walked on the water and as He continues to heal people.  They decided that the Hebrew Scriptures they heard and learned were not talking about Jesus as the Messiah for whom they waited.  In essence, they rejected Jesus, His teachings and His gift of eternal life.

Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily tells us that: “All people desire to leave a lasting mark.”  He mentions things such as money, buildings and books that in the end, disappear after a period of time.  “The only thing that lasts forever is the human soul, the human person created by God for eternity,” he said.

St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians writes that we should “not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption.”  He writes that we need to remove bitterness, fury, anger, shouting and reviling…along with all malice.”  Instead, “be kind…compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.”  “…live in love.”

All of us at times in our life question truth, whether it comes from an earthly source or God reveals it in sacred scripture, at rituals or in the quiet of our heart.  To make a decision of trust in what we decide to contemplate we need courage, strength, wisdom and understanding so the knowledge reveals all facets on which we can live by and share with others.  That is why our Baptism calls us to promise that we will love the Lord with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength and all that God has created as Jesus loves us.

In tandem with that is our hunger for food which nourishes and energizes us along our life’s journey.  Earth feeds our bodies with a food consisting of wealth, fame and power that feeds our egos and personal desires to last us for as long as we live on earth.  God, however, feeds us with Jesus, “the living bread (Eucharist) that came down from heaven so that one may eat and not die.”  And to prove what He said, He sacrificed His life for us on a cross and was raised from the dead to open the gates of eternal life in heaven.

The question we need to ask ourselves is do we believe the world and its trappings for truthful answers to how we need to conduct our lives for an eternal outcome or do we trust in Jesus who delivered on every promise He ever made to us?  For fully initiated and practicing Catholics, the answer is simple: Accept Jesus into our hearts who offers us unconditional love for those who believe and practice our faith in Him.  As for others, repent and change your lives to be with God or reject God and condemn yourself to everlasting fire and separation from God.

Reading 1:  First Kings 19: 4-8
Reading 2:  Ephesians 4: 30 – 5: 2
Gospel: John 6: 41-51