EAT THE WORDS
SO THAT
THE WORD CAN

BECAME FLESH 

AND DWELL 
AMONG US

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 19th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is from John 1: 14,"Eat The Words So That The Word Can Became Flesh and Dwell Among Us.”

In the Jerusalem Bible - there are lots of text references - next to the text -  more than most other Bibles. Along side John 1:14-15 there are 10 references - but there is no reference to today’s first reading from Ezekiel 3: 1-3. Well, I would add it so as to connect the 2 texts.

Ezekiel in the temple is told to take the scroll with its words and eat it - digest it - be satisfied with the words - experience them as sweet as honey - and then go and proclaim that word to the House of Israel.

MARY

Isn’t that what happened to Mary? She heard the word of God from the angel - the messenger. She said “Yes” to that word and she became pregnant with the Word of God - which was as sweet as honey - and she brought  forth Jesus 9 months later - to the House of Israel - to the world.

BIBLE STUDIES

Eating words - digesting words …. Isn’t that a great image for those who preach and those who attend Bible Studies? We eat up the word - we digest the word - the word becomes us - and we bring that word - Jesus Christ - to our world - in our flesh.

When I see folks eating donuts and cookies, sometimes - sometimes - I love to say what I heard some thin guy once say to his wife in a church hall, “A minute on the lips, a year on the hips” and of course she threw the rest of her donut at him - and we all laughed.

A word on our lips - a word in our ears - a word moving into our heart - and then that word can be in us not just for a year - but for a lifetime.

HOW MUCH OF THE BIBLE HAVE WE  DIGESTED?

How much of the Bible have we digested?  How much of the Bible has become us? How many times have we sat down at the banquet of the word?

We are our parents' egg and seed. We are our mother’s blood and love. We are our parents' language, their words to us, their care for us. We are their values, their attitudes. We are their style. We are them and so much more: all the other stuff we have picked up in our lives.

As Ulysses says in Tennyson’s poem with that title, “I am part of all that I have met.”

We know the old saying, “We are what we eat.” Well, we are, but we are also what we read, what we have seen. We are all that example, all that education. We are all that mix called “me”.

I am what I remember. I am a walking library. I was moved with something I heard at the death of an 80 year older. The eulogist said, ‘When an old person dies, it’s like a library is burnt down.”

I ate that statement up. It became me. It made sense. I digested it. I incorporated it. It has led me to say, “We need to read each other. We need to listen to each other. We are talking books.  We need to ask old folks, ‘What was it like?’” It has led me to push and promote writing one’s autobiography.

How much of the Bible is us? We’d be amazed. We have done what Ezekiel has done in today’s first reading. Many of these texts are me, myself and I. These words of the Bible are in our DNA of our thinking - and our attitudes.

They are behind our behavior. They have helped and pushed us to love others - to forgive others - to love children - especially the neglected one’s as we heard in today’s gospel - to have compassion on the people who mess up - the lost sheep in our families and our lives - that we heard about in today’s gospel as well.

Today - August 14 - is the feast of St. Maximillian Kolbe. In 1941 he was in Auschwitz. Three prisoners  had escaped - so 10 prisoners were picked to be starved to death as a warning. Franciszek Gajowniczek screamed out, “My wife. My children.”  Maximillian Kolbe heard those words. He volunteered to take his place. When he was dying by starvation, to make room, they gave him a lethal injection of poison. Motive: what was his motive. Answer: Love. Answer the text: “Greater love than this no one had - but to lay down his or her life for his or her friends.” (John 15:13)

CONCLUSION

So keep feasting - keep digesting - keep on eating the word of God like Ezekiel did. A minute in the ear, a lifetime in our way of being for the rest of our years. Amen.