Bargain hunting

I am proud to say that today, for about $105, I bought 13 items of clothing making the average cost of each item around $8. Plus, I had a few gift cards that subtracted about $35 from that lowering the out of pocket average cost to a little over $5!! I delight in these types of things especially since my shopping day was successful and I am not usually a fan of the activity. Obviously, I was buying clothing for Italy - some neutral colored tops and bottoms that can be mixed and matched to create an illusion of more outfits in less luggage space. I also invested in some cute walking shoes because I read that to Europeans "gym shoes belong in the gym." Whether or not that is true, I am happy with my $15 purchase pictured below. Hopefully going with the off brand doesn't back fire. I'll be breaking them in during my last 18 days in the States. (EIGHTEEN!!! -deep breaths-)

My final stop of the shopping day took me to Office Depot where I inquired about laptops since mine's cooling fan decided to break on me. Robin, the very helpful Office Depot employee, said something that really struck me: "It's not a bargain if it doesn't have what you're looking for." 

Applying this to my shopping day, there were several items that were really good deals (I often shop at thrift stores) but they weren't an item I needed or were an item that I knew I would not wear in Italy. This, even though sometimes hard, is one of my main reasons for not buying things. 

In what other areas can this apply? Take the premise of many chick flicks. Sometimes there is a guy in the mix who is really sweet, loyal, and head over heels in love with the leading lady. He makes it extremely easy for her to be with him. There is no risk involved for her. She knows she won't be rejected and that he will devote all of his energy to making her happy. Sounds like a pretty good deal huh? But does he have everything she's looking for? Will she grow in a relationship that doesn't require any of her effort? Will he? Settling is not bargain hunting. In the end it will probably cost them both more. 

But what about when accepting the bargain is harder than refusing it?

In today's Gospel (Jn 6:60-69) Jesus's disciples are bargain hunting. The problem is, they don't all agree on what they are looking for. The teaching of the Eucharist, the command to eat the flesh of God and drink His blood, was too hard for some of them to accept so they returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. They chose the "safe guy" from the chick flick. They chose to go back to a life that didn't demand any effort from them or challenge them to grow. This, to me, is one of the saddest passages in the whole Bible. Here they are being offered the BEST deal that could ever be imagined - the Living Bread that fully satisfies and the Spring of Eternal Life that quenches every thirst. The same deal we are offered each moment of each day. God is extending His very self to them, to us. And we have merely to receive it. Yes, we will be asked to give of ourselves but we'll never be able to give as He gives to us. As in every relationship, the more we put into our prayer life, the more we will get out of it. But unlike every relationship, God can never be outdone in generosity. His gift to us will always be incomparably greater than what we contribute. We are living the bargain hunter's dream. 

So why didn't those people remain with Jesus? Why couldn't they see what - Who - they were giving up? Because according to what they were looking for, this was not a bargain. Focusing on the action demanded on their part of consuming the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Lord, they were blind to the grace that the Eucharist is. They saw the hardship, the sacrifice, the consequences of this new and radical teaching, and cowering, they turned away in confusion and fear. Their idea of a savior was someone who would make everything easier not someone whose friendship would make powerful earthly kings and queens their enemies. Or whose teaching would bring them persecution and ridicule even from their own family members or close friends. 

The gospels of the past week have been taken from John's Bread of Life discourses. They provide an ample of reflection time over the great gift Jesus gives us in His Real Presence in the Eucharist. But it also calls to mind the great challenge that unless you eat of the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you. What does it mean to eat of the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood? What does it mean to have life within us? These are the questions that must be pondered when bargain hunting. 

So...what are you looking for? Is following Jesus, picking up your cross, eating of His very flesh and blood a bargain for you? Before you answer that, consider some of what Jesus offers us in return:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth...I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. - Jn 14:16-18

Come to me, all who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. - Mt 11:28 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Jn 14:27

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. - Jn 6:51