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August 23, 2015   Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem,summoning their elders, their leaders,their judges, and their officers. When they stood in ranks before God,Joshua addressed all the people:“If it does not please you to serve the LORD,decide today whom you will serve,the gods your fathers served beyond the Riveror the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” But the people answered,“Far be it from us to forsake the...

Today’s readings feature two “hard sayings,” one on the Eucharist, the other on marriage. One is hard because it defies our sensibilities, the other is hard because it is out of season and politically incorrect.The first hard saying is Jesus’ insistence that the Eucharist is actually his Body and Blood and that we must eat his true Flesh and drink his true Blood as our true food, as our necessary manna to sustain us in our journey through the desert of this life to the Promised Land of Heaven. We have examined this teaching extensively in previous weeks and it...