23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Saint Augustine wrote that our hearts remain restless until they rest in God. Today’s liturgy speaks to us in the same way but using different language. The Communion Antiphon reminds us that we are like the deer that yearn for running streams; so too does my soul yearn. Psalm 42, quoted in this Sunday’s Communion Antiphon, says that my soul is also restless in its thirst for God. In our journey of faith, we seek God first, usually in prayer. However, the Offering Prayer clearly tells us that prayer is a gift we need to request, along with God’s presence in God’s word and Eucharist.

I recall that this faith journey is regularly undertaken in prayer, especially where two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name, and by the Word and Sacrament. So, in a real sense, normal presence is to be found in people, and together we are on that same journey about which Saint Augustine spoke, but which is rephrased, refined, and expanded in today’s liturgy.

Let us not forget that prayer and the faith journey itself are gifts from God. These are not spiritual decorations that we earn or even merit. Like the deer in today’s liturgy, we too yearn for running water. That water is nothing other than the God Saint Augustine wrote about centuries ago.

Let Us Pray:

Grant that your faithful, O Lord, whom you nourish and endow with life through the food of your Word and heavenly Sacrament, may so benefit from your beloved Son’s great gifts that we may merit an eternal share in his life. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. (Prayer After Communion)