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Greetings, SBT Readers:
We hunger for so much, not just for the basic necessities of life, but to be accepted, loved, appreciated, and respected; many of us long for companionship, for healthy relationships, for friends who will listen. We hunger for good health and financial stability, for happy homes and productive work. We hunger to find meaning in what we do and to live lives that have purpose. We want to belong and we want to contribute. At the same time, we hunger for more global realities -- for world peace, for justice, and for an end to poverty, racism, sexism, genocide, environmental disasters, disease, human trafficking, global warming and more.
Though we may try to dull this multi-faceted hunger with material goals, acquisitions and accomplishments, we often still have that gnawing sense that "something" is missing -- something deep within the core of who we are that no amount of "things" can satisfy. In fact, the more we try to cram our lives with possessions and activities, the emptier we tend to feel -- and so we crave more, collect more, take on more, and suffer more.
The reality is that there will always be hunger, both on a personal level and globally. We are hungry people living in a hungry world and this is precisely why we need the Bread of Life to sustain us, both in times of feast and famine. This "Food for the Soul" heals us and strengthens us on every level, especially on those days when our hunger pains are too much to bear...
Many Blessings!
Elizabeth
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Link to the Sunday Readings
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life within you.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood
have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood
remain in me and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father,
so also the ones who feed on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever
eats this bread will live forever."
Jn 6:51-58
At the core of Jesus' discourse on the Bread of Life is the distinction between earthly bread and spiritual bread. Only the day before this discourse, many in the crowd had witnessed the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes (Jn 6:1-15); their stomachs full, they chased after him, intending to make him king. Knowing their intentions, however, Jesus eluded them, later pointing out that the only reason they had come in search of him was because they "ate the loaves and were filled" (Jn 6:26)-- in other words, it was not his message that enthralled them but the possibility that he could fulfil their material cravings. Ironically, when demanding a sign, the crowd referenced the manna their ancestors had eaten in the desert. What they seemed to forget was that the same ancestors had complained against Moses and Aaron, pining after the fleshpots and bread they had eaten while enslaved in Egypt (Ex 16:2-3). The gift of manna was God's response to their ingratitude; it satisfied the people's physical hunger but did not make them any more spiritual. Though one of the reasons Moses led his people out of Egypt was so the Israelites could worship God, they still preferred the bread of slavery to the bread of freedom.
Jesus' audience conveniently forgot their ancestors' rebellious behavior and instead focused on the manna -- a divinely sent, freely-given "bread substitute" that appeared daily (except on the sabbath), and satisfied everyone. We can imagine Jesus' frustration as he tried to shift their thinking: what he was offering was more than manna, more than loaves and fishes, but the Bread of Life -- the only bread that could satisfy the hungers of the human heart. Little wonder that the people were unable to understand his claim that he himself was "the living bread that came down from heaven" (Jn 6:51), the source of eternal life for all who feasted upon him. Little wonder that many --including his followers-- were appalled by his words and left his company...
Accustomed as we are to receiving the Bread of Life in the Eucharist, we, too, often struggle to maintain a spiritual understanding of what we are receiving. Sometimes we are simply distracted; at others, we receive out of habit, oblivious to the awesome gift we are receiving-- the very life of Christ, fully present in the bread that we break and the cup of blessing which we bless. Though we may desire an intimate encounter with the Risen Christ, our minds can wander elsewhere, focused, perhaps, on manna or loaves and fishes, whatever they happen to represent in our own lives. Or perhaps we are suffering from exhaustion, anxiety or depression, incapable of moving beyond physical and emotional limitations; we go through the motions of receiving but feel dull and unresponsive, even wondering why we made the effort to show up. The Good News is that even though we may feel absent, the Bread of Life is always present, no matter how awake -- or asleep-- we happen to be. Even if we feel incapable of praying, still, by participating in the Eucharistic Banquet, we invite Jesus to share his life with us and to be the bread that sustains us and transforms us. We receive not because we are perfect but because we are willing to surrender to his perfecting Presence in us; after all, he has promised that
"Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood
have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day."
Jn 6:54
QUESTIONS
FOR REFLECTION
* How important is the Eucharist to you and why?
* Why is the Eucharist central to the devotional life of the Church?
* Why is receiving the Eucharist a communal act, not just a private devotion?
* In what ways are Christians called to be the Body of Christ?
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