The Gospel today, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, continues John Chapter 6 from last Sunday. This is often referred to as the Eucharistic Chapter. Immediately after the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus revealed that the bread that they ate is but a foreshadowing of the real Bread. The bread that they ate would satisfy them for a time, but the Bread from heaven will last forever. “The Bread of God is the true Bread from heaven…”
We Roman Catholics and many Anglicans the world over, take the words of Jesus literally and so we believe and accept the fact that God our heavenly Father sent Jesus to be “The Bread of life, which has come down heaven.’ In fact, in the same chapter 6 of John’s gospel Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life, anyone who eats this Bread will live forever.” So then this chapter is much more than a record of the multiplication of the loaves. It is more about the revelation of God, feeding his people through Jesus who called himself the “Bread of Life.”
This calls from us gratitude and praise to God who continues to give us Jesus in Holy Communion. Yes, Jesus feeds us with himself through providing his hungry people with the food that lasts forever. Let us redouble our faith in the Eucharist each time we come into the presence of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus and when we eat his body and drink his blood in the Eucharist.
Fr. Clement Paul
Parish Priest
We Roman Catholics and many Anglicans the world over, take the words of Jesus literally and so we believe and accept the fact that God our heavenly Father sent Jesus to be “The Bread of life, which has come down heaven.’ In fact, in the same chapter 6 of John’s gospel Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life, anyone who eats this Bread will live forever.” So then this chapter is much more than a record of the multiplication of the loaves. It is more about the revelation of God, feeding his people through Jesus who called himself the “Bread of Life.”
This calls from us gratitude and praise to God who continues to give us Jesus in Holy Communion. Yes, Jesus feeds us with himself through providing his hungry people with the food that lasts forever. Let us redouble our faith in the Eucharist each time we come into the presence of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus and when we eat his body and drink his blood in the Eucharist.
Fr. Clement Paul
Parish Priest