MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE!
Proverbs 9:1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20; 6:51-58
In 1982, Johnson & Johnson learned that bottles of Tylenol sold in Chicago had been laced with cyanide and had left seven dead. CEO James Burke chose to pull every bottle of Tylenol off the shelves nationally and design a tamper-proof bottle. He did not have to do it; he could have pulled only the bottles in Chicago. That move cost J&J $100 million but won them scores of loyal customers.
Our choices affect our destiny!
The first reading portrays wisdom as a woman who sends her servants to invite people to her banquet. Subsequent verses describe Dame Folly who invites passers-by to her meal of stolen bread and water of deceit. Banqueting at the feast of Lady Wisdom brings life and new perception; eating at the table of Dame Folly brings death.
In the second reading, St Paul gives the Ephesians three “be-attitudes”: be wise, be sober, and be thankful.
On Justice Sunday, these are “be-attitudes” we must choose: be wise to understand that the cause of injustice and oppression is our selfish quest to grab more for ourselves; be sober in using the goods of the world so that there is an equitable distribution of the world’s resources; be thankful for God’s blessings.
In the gospel, Jesus contrasts the manna in the desert with the bread that he gives: the manna not eaten within the day had to be thrown away; it was no longer good. After Jesus fed the five thousand, the disciples gathered twelve baskets of fragments; Jesus gives (and is) bread which lasts. He is the new manna that lasts forever and gives us everlasting life. “Whoever eats this bread (a choice!) will live forever.”
What are the choices I make: Am I wise, sober and thankful? Am I satisfied with the junk food with “empty calories” the world offers or do I feast on Jesus the living bread?
May you and I make the right choices; they affect our destiny!
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