I love Colorado!  I would always joke that those words would just come out of my mouth as I tried to grasp the majesty of the Rocky Mountains. I had a chance to live in Colorado for 4 years, 1 year in Colorado Springs and 3 years in Boulder. In that time, I had a chance to hike some beautiful mountains, or 14er’s, which the locals called mountains that were 14,000 feet above sea level.

One thing is clear; to climb a mountain takes a lot of work and preparation – and sometimes even training! It’s interesting to see that the Scriptures and early church writers both saw the spiritual journey as similar to climbing a mountain. Some of it has to do with the idea of climbing to the heights of heaven. But, it also reveals the simple truth of our faith; we can’t be passive and we can’t just stand still. We must always seek God’s grace to grow ever closer to him; otherwise, we would just slide down the mountain due to our tendency to sin, known as concupiscence.

 In the story of the Exodus, God revealed his ultimate power over creation through the 10 plagues. Then the Israelites were protected from Pharaoh and his army through the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. And yet, after all that we see the Israelites slide into sin and desire to go back to Egypt, longing to return to slavery and worship of pagan idols. What happened?  They stopped surrendering and trusting in the Lord in the midst of the desert, even though they had seen his power.

How many of us in our Christian journey have had a powerful encounter with God, only to doubt his love for us when we enter the desert of life or encounter a cross we did not want. The Israelites reaction was, “I want to go back to when life didn’t involve the cross.” 

In the first reading, God reveals to the people that he will provide the food they need to make it through the desert. In the Gospel today, the Lord leads us into the Bread of Life Discourse, revealing that which will give us the strength to endure through the desert and crosses of life.  He is going to give us his very self in the Eucharist at every Mass. As we come to our last year of the Eucharistic Revival, may the desire remain that we cling close to the Lord and that we stay close to the Eucharist. Let us pray that despite whatever we may be going through in our lives, we may always seek the grace of God in the Eucharist- that which will nourish and strengthen us on our journey to God!  

Father Michael