After the Real Food

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 2, 2015

We are the people of the Lord, the flock that is led by his hand: come, let us adore him, alleluia.

First reading                                     Exodus 16:2-4,12-15

The whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!’

  Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each day the people are to go out and gather the day’s portion; I propose to test them in this way to see whether they will follow my law or not.

  ‘I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel. Say this to them, “Between the two evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have bread to your heart’s content. Then you will learn that I, the Lord, am your God.”’

  And so it came about: quails flew up in the evening, and they covered the camp; in the morning there was a coating of dew all round the camp. When the coating of dew lifted, there on the surface of the desert was a thing delicate, powdery, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to one another, ‘What is that?’ not knowing what it was. ‘That’ said Moses to them ‘is the bread the Lord gives you to eat.’

Psalm                                              Psalm 77:3-4,23-25,54

Second reading                              Ephesians 4: 17,20-24

I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live. Now that is hardly the way you have learnt from Christ, unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus. You must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.

Gospel                                               John 6:24-35

When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
  Jesus answered:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs
but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.
Do not work for food that cannot last,
but work for food that endures to eternal life,
the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,
for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’
Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’ So they said, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus answered:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven,
it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven,
the true bread;
for the bread of God
is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.’
‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:
‘I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never be hungry;
he who believes in me will never thirst.’

Reflection

By Rose Markell

Having multiple loaves and fishes to feed the crowd, Jesus slips away.  The crowd finds Him.  He speaks about an imperishable food, better than manna, and says that He is the "Bread of Life".

Before making this statement, Jesus engages the crowd to give them instructions.  First, He knows that the crowd has followed Him not for any religious reason. They are not looking for signs of God's presence in their midst.  Jesus has fed them, and they want more of the free food.

This scenario is so similar to the "hakot" crowd that some politicians love to organize especially during campaigns or worse, to serve as their "shields" when law enforcers are chasing them.  And such "hakot" crowd would just be after the food and other amenities given them by these politicians.

But Jesus turns the crowd's desire from earthly bread to a different kind of food. Food that endures for eternity.  And to avail of this bread, one has to put faith on Him.

Every Sunday and other special occasions, we receive Jesus in a form of bread.  Our acceptance of Jesus as the living bread is summed up in that simple word when we say, “Amen” before we receive Him.

When was the last time we sincerely said "Amen"? And do we receive the body of Christ as a true follower or just part of the "hakot" crowd?

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, ever present in the sacred Host, grant us the grace to approach You with pure hearts - hearts that seek eternal life which You alone could give.  May our lives be a resounding "Amen" to Your saving love and abiding presence. One with Mama Mary we pray. Amen.