Breaking and sharing the bread

Good morning, happy Tuesday, and blessings.   In today’s gospel (John 6:30-35) Jesus tell us; I AM” …the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”   Few questions come to my mind: What does it mean that Christ is the bread of life? What do people all over the world spend most of their time and energy doing? What are the barest necessities of life? Let start by recognizing that food, shelter, and clothing are three daily life concerns that people demonstrate. We spend most of our waking hours working to obtain these necessities. But of them all, food is the most important. Physical hunger is so consuming that we cannot think of anything else until it is satisfied.   Jesus used the legitimate cravings of the body for food to describe a deeper hunger the hunger of the soul for God and the longing for eternal life. And He demonstrated vividly His ability to satisfy that hunger forever. The disciples had been on the road with Jesus for over 2 years. They had heard His teaching and seen His miracles. He had been training them and now it was time to send them out in teams of two.   Notice that Jesus does not say that he gives bread to eternal life. Jesus says that he is the bread. He is not the giver of the bread, but he is the bread of life. Jesus is the bread given by God to the world. The point that we made yesterday comes back into our minds in this text. The people were coming to him for what he gives, not because of who he is. Those who believe in him come to him, not to what is gives. Those who believe see Jesus as the bread of life. For Jesus to call himself the bread is everything to what Jesus wants us to learn. For Jesus to be the bread of life means that we will come to him as our satisfaction. We will not come to him to satisfy our desires. We will come to him because who he is satisfies.   Think about this: the only time we are comfortable is when we are not hungry or thirsty. When we are hungry or thirsty then we are uncomfortable to the point that we get up and do something about it. Jesus is saying. “Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” I am only comfortable when Jesus is my bread. I am only at rest when Jesus is my satisfaction. Nothing compares to him. Money, family, power, lust, health, desires, or anything else compares to Jesus. You will fail to find satisfaction anywhere else. Jesus came to be your bread and for you to come to him as your bread. Everyone was made to be satisfied by Jesus.   For Christians today this passage should likewise serve both these ends: It should inform our understanding of our own relationship to Jesus -- and, in fact, of life itself -- and it should inform our own practice of celebrating the Lord’s Supper, where we break bread and also share it.   Blessings   Fr. Luis+