A week ago I was leaving one of my happy places . . . the Canadian boundary waters, called Quetico. It was actually a cold and wet trip, but I still loved it. We fished nearly every day, on my very first cast, I connected with a good size northern pike. (I could see it as I reeled it close to my canoe). And [show my rod] it broke my rod and line. Well I continued to fish even with just one eye on the rod . . . and I caught lots of walleyes.
Anyway, one of the serene sounds up north, as many of you know, is the sound of a loon. Let me demonstrate how a loon sounds. [I activate the artificial loon caller] I know, it is pretty lame. It doesn’t come close to the real thing.
That’s like the difference between a fake smile and a real smile
a fake NFL jersey or a real one
a fake Christmas tree or a real one
Well, as the gospel readings for the last 5 weeks have been leading us . . . to this week which is the summation of what we believe: that the presence of Christ at the Eucharist is not fake. It’s real.
The bread does not remind us of Jesus’s body . . . it is his body
The wine does not remind us of Jesus’s blood . . ..it is his blood.
It sounds incredible, but you just heard it in the gospel. When Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” It is the good news.
That message invites us to go deeper. Remember at the beginning of Mass when you shared about “happiness?” Well, too many of us only seek to be happy. But there is big difference between being happy and being joy filled. Happiness is when things go our way. It is more about getting what we want . . . e.g. a weekend up north, a Salted Truffle Blizzard at Dairy Queen, a homerun. Joy is a peak sense of aliveness no matter what is going on. Happiness is fragile. Joy is not fragile at all.
Pope Francis, in his very first Pastoral letter wrote about joy. He wrote, “Sometimes we are tempted to find excuses and complain, acting as if we could only be happy if a thousand conditions were met. To some extent this is because our ‘technological society has succeeded in multiplying occasions of pleasure, yet has found it very difficult to engender joy.’ ” (#7)
How well we enjoy what we have . . . is more important than how much we have. Life is full of people who have more than know what to do with, but cannot be content. It is the capacity to enjoy life that brings contentment. For example, you can be on the beach of a lake cabin and complain about the sun or the water temperature . . . or you can be cleaning the toilet and be in complete bliss.
Happiness is conditional. Joy is deeper than that. It is not about the conditions, it is about your attitude . . .and allowing the presence of God to be with you, in you, through you.
So how do we get a better attitude? I have 5 easy steps . . .
1. Don’t let the past drag you down. Let go of it. Seek forgiveness and move on.
2. Don’t be afraid of the future. Live in the present. Take a deep breath and think of the
things that you are thankful for.
3. Be a doer, not a worrier. 90% of the things we worry about never occur anyway.
4. Be as cheerful as you can be in all circumstances. Fake it, until it becomes you.
5. Reject all forms of self-pity. No one likes to hear your litany of complaints. Turn things
around and recognize what is going well in your life.
My loon call is pretty lame. Sometimes our lives feel pretty lame. You can change it. We eat the Body of Christ to become the Body of Christ. As our Parish motto says, “Love God, LIVE the Eucharist.
It is not joy that makes you grateful. It is gratefulness that makes you joy filled.
Blessed Julian of Norwich wrote, “The greatest honor you can give to Almighty God is to live gladly, joyfully because of the knowledge of God’s love.”