Squirrel in the Synagogue

Seeing why we should never leave the Church

08/19/2024

Jn 6:51-58 Jesus said to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."

There was once a small town experiencing an over-population of squirrels. The Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they should not interfere with God’s divine will.

At the Baptist Church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a waterslide on the baptistery and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and unfortunately knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week. See what happens when the deacons are in charge?

The Lutheran Church decided they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures so they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist Church. Two weeks later the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down their waterslide.

But the Catholic Church came up with a more creative strategy. They actually baptized and confirmed all the squirrels and made them members of the Church. Now, they only see them at Christmas and Easter. Not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue. They took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven’t seen a squirrel since.

I mention that joke because in the gospel today Jesus says something rather scandalous that has the effect of running off a lot of people like the townspeople tried to run off the squirrels. He insists that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” In fact, if you read a little further, you discover that by the end of John chapter 6 thousands of followers depart and it appears only the 12 apostles are left.

In other words, remaining faithful to Jesus takes a kind of squirrely persistence that we call faith. Just like those pesky squirrels would not leave that small town no matter how hard it was to stay, so we too should not abandon the Catholic Church, no matter how tough her teachings may sound and they make us feel like leaving.

Just think of many of the difficult doctrines of Catholicism. For instance, if you are a Catholic democrat, you might be put off by the Catholic Church’s unwavering prolife position. A woman should not choose an abortion because it is not her body, it is her baby. But if you are a republican Catholic you might wince when the Catholic Church insists that immigrants have a right to move to another country to escape persecution or to provide for their families.

Other teachings that run us off are not political but personal. For example, if you are divorced and remarried you have to get an annulment before you can receive Holy Communion again. Annulments have run off lots of Catholics, and I bet you know some of them. Missing Mass on Sunday is a mortal sin and you should go to confession before returning to Communion. Confession runs off Catholics.

The Catholic Church does not condone same-sex marriage but only monogamous, life-long marriage between a man and a woman. Catholic marriage runs off some people. Some women are angry that women cannot become priests, and the priesthood runs them off. And some priests leave because they don’t like celibacy, and maybe they feel like that squirrel in the synagogue.

In the face of all these compelling reasons to leave the Church, why would anyone want to stay? Well, ironically, the best reason to stay is Jesus’ tough teaching today on the Eucharist. How so? Well, we know that Jesus is the answer to all our problems and we encounter him most fully in the Eucharist. That is, no matter how many things try to run us off, we come back for Communion.

I began to understand this when I was still in high school in Little Rock. During the summer months I would get up early and go to Mass at the Carmelite monastery on 32nd Street. Now, morning Mass was at 6:30 a.m. and I almost always arrived a few minutes late. There were only about 6 elderly people in the chapel, so it was hard to sneak in unnoticed. And Fr. George Tribou would glare at me over his glasses as he began the Penitential Rite.

I remember thinking: “Hey, I just brought the average age of this congregation down about 50 years, so give me a break, Jake!” But what would make a virile, red-blooded, healthy teenager get up at 6:15 a.m. and drive across town to attend Mass with a bunch of octogenarians, and a priest who never even gave a homily? There’s only one explanation, faith in the Eucharist. In other words, no matter how hard it would be to follow Jesus – and it’s hard to follow Jesus at 6:30 a.m.! – I was hungry for the Eucharist.

My friends, if you start listing the reasons not to come to Mass, you will quickly come up with a long list, and our society will be happy to add a number of new items. But there is one compelling reason to stay and that is Communion. You will not find the Eucharist anywhere else in the world. And the Eucharist is really the only Thing – rather the only One – we are looking for. Heck, even some teenagers know that, and maybe even some squirrels.

Praised be Jesus Christ!