“ANYONE WHO EATS THIS BREAD WILL LIVE FOREVER.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This verse is making a statement that is either deeply spiritual or nonsensical. Why? We know of no one who has been living for more than 150 years in a physical state and seem to be living on forever. So, what is Jesus saying? Notice that he himself referred to the strangeness of the statement he was about to make in reference to living forever. “Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead.” Remember that that manna came from heaven and yet they are dead. He then said. “But anyone who eats this bread will live forever.” He must definitely want us to accept this challenge because he goes on to explain carefully what that bread is. “The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world’” And so today we are being called upon to recognize that we are not eating ordinary bread when we receive the Body of Christ. We are eating that Bread from heaven which is Jesus himself.

It isn’t that we don’t believe it somewhat. It’s that our minds find it illogical, as did the Jews. How can a man become bread from heaven? Jesus does not tell us how he is the bread of life, but he tells us that he is the bread come down from heaven to us so that we may eat him and not die but live eternally, i.e. live beyond our physical death.

Our response? Believe in this profound gift of the Bread of Life, receive him gratefully and live with him forever!
 
Fr. Clement Paul
Parish Priest

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