Robert Barron - Everything in This World Passes Away
Peace be with you, friends, we continue reading the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John. And we are in the midst of this great Eucharistic awakening in our country. It is important for us to pay attention to these passages from John 6, because each of them tells us something very fundamental about this sacrament. I want to share with you a few lines from today's Gospel, which tell us something fundamental for our spiritual life. Jesus has just multiplied the loaves and fishes and the people are looking for him, they have crossed the sea and they are saying this: Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered them and said, Amen. Amen, I say to you. You sought me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not seek the food that perishes, but the food that endures to eternal life.
So they were satisfied on a physical level and now they want more. Do not seek the food that perishes, but the food that endures to eternal life. Our entire spiritual life depends in many ways on this statement. It is extremely difficult to live in this world, and much of our life drama comes from this tension. To be honest, much of the drama in literature and art comes from this tension. So what does he mean? I would start with an image that is maybe a little strange, but it always comes to mind when I read it.
Teilhard de Chardin was a French Catholic theologian of the 20th century. And he, when he was about four years old, so he was just old enough to remember, it was the custom of the time for young boys to grow their hair very long. And then around the fourth year they had their hair cut for the first time. He remembered how his mother placed him next to the fireplace and then started cutting his hair. And to his horror, when he looked down, he saw strands of hair. He saw a strand of hair fall to the ground near the fire from the hearth, and thus was consumed by the flame. And he thought, that's weird, it's part of my body. And just like that it disappears. Is man so fragile?
And that's what Teilhard de Chardin thought about as a four-year-old. And in many ways, you could read his work, his theological work, as an attempt to find that which does not pass away. But let's be honest, here's the dark truth, I'll put it bluntly. Everything in this world will pass away. Without exception. Everything in this world is ultimately like that little strand of hair. The one that is currently consumed by fire. What are the things we strive for? We spend a lot of time striving for what is fleeting. Only to find that when they inevitably disappear, we are left frustrated. I will give you some examples. We start with the image of food. They have had their fill and are now looking for more food to fill them up.
Think of the best meal you've ever had. You go to a restaurant, get your favorite food and eat so much that you are completely full. You tell yourself that you will never eat again. But within hours you are hungry. No matter how good the food was, not long ago when we were filming, Doug Cummings, who is our producer, invited us to his house for a picnic with his family and I had a cheeseburger. I had a hot dog. I had a watermelon. I had a piece of cake, you know, it was a feast. And by the end I felt like I couldn't take another bite. And I don't think I really ate dinner that night, I was still so full, but the next morning I was reliably hungry again. In the end, the food in this world does not fully satisfy us. Of course not. Still, we work for the home.
I am investing a lot of my money in this house and it is my dream house. This is the house. I want him, I love him. I'm enjoying it, it's everything I've ever wanted. But as any homeowner will tell you, what happens is that it starts to fall apart. It needs to be repainted. The roof needs to be repaired. I guess I'll run down. The electricity starts failing, you have to pay off the driveway, and no matter how hard you work on it, your dream house will keep falling apart, and eventually you sell the house and someone else lives in it. It will eventually be destroyed. I mean I don't care how great your house is. It passes, it does not last. Think of the fun. Many of us seek various forms of entertainment with great enthusiasm.
I love a good baseball game. The sights, sounds and smells of the stadium, the excitement of the game. I like to keep score when I go to a baseball game. I watch the game, I get involved, and it's exciting. And then the game ends and your team wins. Well Good. And then you go home. Stadiums are left full of trash in the stands and then other times your team loses at the end of the season. He'll end up in fourth place or something. So, you've seen this great fun. Maybe you have better taste and go to a concert. Maybe you're listening to Beethoven's violin concerto and it's just amazing. You can go hear an opera singer sing, which is great, and you've just soaked up the beauty of one of his arias. But music is very interesting, especially in this area. Some composers mention it.
Take Michelangelo for example, his David will be with us for a long time. But music, when you play it like that, it's gone. You finish the whole concert. The last note and it fades away, it's gone. And so it is with all forms of entertainment. It passes. Take for example things like our relationships, families, it's the friendships of people that mean the most to us. Beautifully. Sure. They last forever. Some of the greatest pain we experience in life comes from the fact that the people we love the most eventually get sick and die. All of us will get sick and die. Each of us without exception. The words of Jesus echo all the great spiritual Masters. We all want to be happy.
And so we look for happiness in all these different ways. We are looking for one more thing. You know what? To be recognized to be appreciated. If only I were respected, he had a number of honorary degrees. You know, people invite you to a college campus, have dinner for you. And they say all kinds of nice things and the next day they give you a diploma and everybody claps and yes, it's a beautiful moment, beautiful. And then you stick the diploma on the wall. That moment will disappear. You can look at the wall and tell yourself that you have a good memory of that day. But what will you find out?
Well, that didn't satisfy my desire. I still feel kind of empty and I'm looking for more. That's how it goes with everything in this world. Imagine fireworks appearing in the night sky in that wonderful flash of light and color and harmony. The fireworks are beautiful. Like a rose window in the sky. And then suddenly it disappears. I love fireworks, always have. But in my experience, there is always sadness attached to them because they are there and they are gone. Everything in life is like that. It is like a firework that extinguishes your relationships or friendships, your honors. Your pleasure. The best food I've ever had, all your fun, everything, everything. Everything is like an explosion of fireworks. Good.
So what is the answer? We have spiritual Masters here again. What words to use again? And again the words attachment and detachment Don't get attached to these things. To the fact that life is only about this. That we only care about honor. It is about physical pleasure, about success. Don't get attached to these things because they will fade away and disappoint you. Rather, cultivate an attitude of detachment. Which means you can appreciate all these things. Play baseball, great, goal. Surrender to it. Enjoy hamburgers and hotdogs on the 4th of July. You get an honorary degree, great, take it, enjoy it. But don't cling to it.
Remember the fireworks come and go. What should you be looking for? Do not look for this food that perishes, but rather work for the food that endures for eternal life. But what is it? Christ. Christ. What does it give people? We continue reading, John chapter 6, he will give himself. Like the bread of life. I myself am the bread that came down from heaven, he says. He means no bread from this Earth, everything in this world, will disappear. But I want to give you this bread that comes down from heaven.
Consecrate your whole life to Christ. He won't disappear. Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever. And then in the light of this basic order of love, arrange the other interests of your life. That is if you want the whole spiritual life. Augustine said, love God. And then love everything else for God. Whether it's a ball game, a meal, a violin concert. Friendship Whatever it is in this world. Love it. Clearly. Love it, but don't get attached to any of it. Look for the bread that lasts for eternal life. And then, in an attitude of detachment, love everything else for Christ. God bless you.