In the mystery of the Eucharist, it is Jesus, the Bread of Life, that feeds our souls.

 

Eighteenth Sunday in O T   B  2024

 

 

In the first Scripture reading from the Book of Exodus, the Israelites weren’t having a good time.  Their complaints were mounting.  Nothing was going right for them.  Moses their leader was on the hot seat. 

 

God patiently works with them and responds to their complaints with bread from heaven.  As they gather the manna each day of their journey, they may learn to trust that God will always care for them.

 

But the truth of their journey lies in the reality that until the people learned to trust in God, they would never make much progress towards the Promised Land.

 

This is the truth of our spiritual journey as well:  Until we trust in God’s faithfulness to us, we wander a bit aimlessly.

 

In today’s Gospel,  remembering when Jesus fed five thousand people with only two fish and five barley loaves, the crowd chased Jesus down to ask for more, as if Jesus had a magic picnic hamper always full of food.  Jesus tells to look for a different kind of food.  Jesus said to them:  I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.

 

It is as if the Israelites who were grumbling in their journey in the desert and the followers of Jesus who had just benefited from the multiplication of the loaves and fishes were looking for more fast food.  We Americans know quite a bit about fast foods and the convenience and the tastiness of fast food restaurants.  I read a statistic that says the average American each year spends about $1,200 on fast food.  It’s easy and handy, don’t you know.  But in no way is this a healthy way to live compared to a healthy, balanced diet of fruits and vegetables.

 

My question for us to ponder, is there such a thing as fast-food faith?  Quick and healthy but without lasting spiritual benefits.  Indeed this is the message of Jesus in today’s Gospel.  The disciples had just experienced the miracle of the loaves and fishes and thought this is as good as it gets.

 

Perhaps the quick fix faith is that our prayer life lies dormant until we are in a fox hole and desperate for the Lord to bring healing for our lives.  We need to ask ourselves whether we pray in gratitude over the blessings of life as much as we do in the more needy circumstances of life.  Do I come to Mass to give thanks or the mindset well I didn’t get anything out of this boring and so it’s not for me.

 

The faith we seek is more that a fast food faith but rather a trust that Jesus accompanies in the crosses as well as the joys of life.  The more we trust in God’s plan for us, the more our life is filled with meaning and much love.

 

Jesus is now teaching his disciples about their deeper spiritual hunger when he says:  I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.

 

Last week in the Gospel miracle, we learned that God sent Jesus to do exactly what God did for the Israelites:  feed the multitude.  But now Jesus invites us into more than just a quick fix for their hunger.  In the sixth of John’s Gospel, Jesus recognizes that people are just coming to watch him fix the world’s problems quickly.  In other words, for most people he’s just the God who rains down manna and meets their immediate needs.

 

 

Jesus seeks now to have his disciples take the next step in their journey of faith.  In saying, that I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE, Jesus is inviting his disciples into a relationship with Him that satisfies their deepest hunger in a way that last for eternity. 

 

 

Jesus now says that the deepest hungers and thirsts of the human heart are satisfied through the person of Jesus.  He is food for our souls.  Jesus is inviting us to a personal relationship with him.

 

Jesus is trying to refocus the inquiring minds of his disciples.  They are seeking him because they have filled their bellies on the loaves of bread.  But they have not understood the loaves as signs of God’s care for people.  They are well acquainted with their physical hunger and deeply attached to filling it.  But they are less acquainted with their spiritual hunger and unsure how to fill it.  Jesus tells them that he himself is the one who feeds them with eternal food.

 

It’s important to note that the teaching in today’s Gospel points to the mystery of the Eucharist when Jesus says:  “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

 

While the Mass is about external ritual with music, Scripture readings, a homily, a gathering of the parish community, the receiving of Communion, but unless the Mass is also a prayerful encounter with the Risen Lord, the ritual will never fully satisfy us.  This is the message of today’s Gospel and the entire sixth chapter of John’s Gospel.

 

 

 

Getting back to the Mass, the Mass is about hospitality, making people feel welcomed, the gathering of the parish community, it is about good music, it is about good homilies, it is about ritual and liturgy, but most of all, it happens on a deeper spiritual level, it is about our encounter with the Risen Lord.  It is about the Lord speaking to us the words:  “I love you.”  And our response of gratitude and love to the Lord.  Unless we experience the Lord in the mystery of the Eucharist, our spiritual hunger remains unsatisfied.

 

Today we gather with our parish community who are always grateful for our daily manna but are even more grateful for the unending love we experience in our relationship with the person of Jesus who comes to us in the mystery of the Eucharist.

 

As miraculous as the feeding of the five thousand was at the beginning of this sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, may we ponder the words of Jesus:  I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never hunger, whoever believes in me will never thirst”