Convincing Doubters: 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Why do some believe, and others don’t? That seems to be a difficult question to answer. We are surrounded by many people who have declared open season on Catholics. Look no further than the events in Paris during the opening ceremony which has outraged millions of Catholics throughout the world. We are constantly attacked for practicing our faith by friends and family who want to find ways for us to abandon our faith for us to be silenced.

We even have poorly catechized Catholics who will go on to become liberal Protestants who will worship a woke version of Jesus while practicing a fake Christianity that goes against the “Good News”. Meanwhile, well-informed Protestants, Atheists, Jews, and the like will go on the road to come home to Rome.

In the Gospel of John for this Sunday, Jesus continues to explain that he is the “Bread of Life”. The passage says they “murmured” at him and remarked, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (John 6:41). At one point, they were murmuring or in Greek gogguzo.

Like the Israelites in Exodus, their hearts were heartened to the voice of God. He rebukes them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him…” (John 6:43-44).

The Vatican II document Dei Verbum states faith is a gift from God. “Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior help of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth” (Dei Verbum, 5).

We play a part in God’s plan. It begins when we are willing to receive his grace. Even St. Paul reminds us to, “be imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1-2). Christ wants us to imitate his life after him. He calls us to put our faith into action. We do this by imitating him.

Every time we receive Christ, we grow to become more like him. Just like those who work out with weights at the gym, our faith strengthens when we receive the sacraments. Christ gives us his grace through his sacraments. It is from his grace that we become stronger in the practice of our Catholic faith.

Let us be willing to imitate Christ through a courageous faith, a charitable approach to dialogue, unwavering faith, and joy in our hearts.