Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 1, 2021

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Jesus is our sustenance, no human food or shelter can compare

John 6:24–35

Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in you. We are always trying to satisfy some inner need, looking for love in all the wrong places, searching for food that cannot truly nourish my soul. Help me to quiet my heart and my mind to hear what you say to me this day about trusting in you, and about being attentive to the hungers in those around me.

Companions for the Journey

From Living Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits, 2021:

Last Sunday we switched from reading Mark’s gospel to that of John. Today we continue with the 6th chapter of John on Jesus as the Bread of Life. In last Sunday’s gospel we saw how excited the people were after Jesus had fed them with just a few loaves and fish. They were so excited that they wanted to make him king. ”This really is the prophet who is to come into the world”, they cry. Their being fed with bread reminds them of Moses who fed the people with manna (described in today’s First Reading) as well as an expression of the expected coming of the Messiah-King. But Jesus had fled to the mountains. He could have used this occasion to exploit the situation and further his own mission but he rejected it outright as a temptation. He was indeed their Messiah-King but not in this way. The disciples, too, have been packed off in a boat in case they got the wrong ideas and tried to take advantage of Jesus’ popularity. They also had to learn the kind of king their Master was.

When did you come here?

The people now set off to Capernaum on the other side of the lake looking for Jesus. After finding him they asked, “When did you come here?” It is one of those ironic questions that John loves. A seemingly innocent and simple question which actually touches on the real origins and identity of Jesus. Jesus tells them they are looking for him not because they have seen signs but because they had got a lot of bread to eat. They did not realize that the feeding itself was a spectacular sign pointing to something much deeper than the material bread they enjoyed.

It was a sign of an altogether different kind of food, a different kind of nourishment on a different level entirely. A food that endures forever and this is the real food that Jesus has come to offer. But they still have not grasped what he is saying to them.

What must we do, they asked, to get this bread of life? The answer was simple and straightforward: “You must believe in the one God has sent.” That is all and it is everything: to believe IN Jesus, that is, to commit oneself totally and unconditionally to his Way. To believe in a person is to make an investment of one’s whole self. It is an act of faith, of trust and a letting go. It is much more than just accepting what a person says as being true. But the people are still not satisfied. They ask for a sign which would give them a reason for believing in Jesus. They cite the example of the manna that Moses had fed the people with over their 40 years in the desert.

Jesus, the new manna

To this request Jesus replies:
First, the manna came from God, not Moses.
Second, the real bread that comes from God is not material, it comes directly from God and it is life-giving.
”Oh, let’s have some of that bread,” Jesus’ listeners cried, hearing only the literal meaning of his words. (It reminds us of the Samaritan woman by the well of Jacob who asked Jesus for the water of life after which she would never be thirsty again.) Jesus then answers simply: “I AM the Bread of Life.” This is much more than a statement of fact; the phrase “I AM” is the name of God given to Moses at the burning bush. It is the first of seven ‘I AM’ statements uttered by Jesus in John’s gospel, all pointing to his divine origin.
The others are:
I AM the Light of the World (8:12, 9:5)
I AM the Gate (10:7,9)
I AM the Good Shepherd (10:11,14)
I AM the Resurrection and the Life (11:25)
I AM the Way: the Truth and the Life (14:6)
I AM the Vine (15:1,5).

Now, however, we need to ask: How is Jesus bread and how are we to get it? By going to Jesus, by becoming his close companion (one who shares bread from the Latin ‘cum’=with and ‘panis’=bread) and follower. “Who comes to me will never be hungry.” By believing in Jesus, by an unconditional and total giving of self to him. “Who believes in me will never thirst.”

But how does Jesus nourish us and be our food and drink?

  1. By giving us his Word in the Scriptures. In this way he feeds our minds and hearts, enriches and gives meaning and direction to our lives. The Word of God in the scriptures is really food and, in so far as the Bible is unknown to us, we are being starved of food that we really need.
  2. Through his Church: through the fellowship and mutual support we get through our involvement and participation in a Christian community.
  3. Through every loving and nourishing experience coming to us through people, books, radio, TV, the world of nature – in short, through everything which enriches and gives more meaning and understanding in our lives, increases our feeling of being loved and of self-worth.
  4. Through the Eucharist, the sign by which we celebrate God’s love shown to us through the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and where we give thanks for all the nourishing ways by which God, through Jesus, comes into our daily lives.

The fact that we are indeed being fed and nourished is shown by the way we live our lives and share what we have received with others who are still hungry for life and meaning. As the letter to the Ephesians says in today’s Second Reading: “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.”

This is exactly what happens when we have been fed by the Bread of Life.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never die

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • Is my basic orientation once of scarcity (there is never enough; others have way more than I do; someone might take from me what I have)?
    In what areas of my life is this scarcity felt—in my material life, in my emotional life, in my spiritual life?
    Where did this attitude come from?
  • What is my deepest hunger or my most urgent thirst?
  • What do I need to do to have that hunger satisfied?
  • What is a mentality of abundance?
    In what areas do I need to cultivate this mentality?
    What has helped me to do so?
    When has God given to me in abundance?
  • Is it true that people turn to God mostly when they want some temporal gift or favor instead of turning to God in love and friendship?
    Do they see God as some sort of personal “fixer” who grants them material success or health, or happiness?
    Do we?
  • What do I want from Jesus?
    Do I sometimes miss what Jesus is actually offering, because I think I want something very different to make me happy?
  • What sort of bread is Jesus for me?
  • How does the throw-away, consumerist society we inhabit encourage more and more acquisition, more and more waste, and keep us from investing in what is lasting and not a passing fad?
  • What physical hunger in the world are we being called to address?
  • What can we in the parish do to address the physical hungers of our struggling brothers and sisters?
    What can I, as an individual do to address these hungers?
  • Which comes first: the physical needs of people for food, for freedom, for understanding, or the spiritual needs of people for a faith that sustains them?
    Do people need both?
  • Which image moves me more: Jesus as the bread of life, or Eucharist as the body and blood of Jesus? Why?
  • How important is the Eucharist in my life?
    How important is Jesus in my life?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Adapted from “First Impressions” 2021, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

God hears us in whatever wilderness or desert place we find ourselves now. God hears even the longings we don’t name: our hunger for truth and goodness; our hunger for meaningful relationships or healed relationships; our hunger for holiness and grace; our hunger to make a difference for the good and not just be someone who is passing through life. I take a few minutes to reflect on what I long for, to reflect on hungers I did not know I had. When I say “Give us this day our daily bread”, what, exactly, am I asking God to give me?

God continues to perform signs for us and feeds us in surprising ways—do I get it?... a surprise gesture of kindness from a friend, or even a stranger: a job that turns out just right for me; a word of forgiveness I have not earned, but which I received nevertheless. Or, the moment out of the blue, when I stop to appreciate my life, and the lives of those around me, and I realize it is good to be alive—do I get it?

I reflect on the gifts that I have received in my successes and failures, my joy and grief, my loss and discovery. Do I realize that these gifts are God’s presence in my life? Do I realize that Jesus is present in the bread of the Eucharist and deep in my heart always? I pray the Lord’s prayer as an act of faith/trust in God’s goodness and care for me and for the world:
Our Father who art in heaven, holy is your name
Your kingdom is here and
I want to do your will on earth as it is done in heaven
You give us this day, our daily bread
And you forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of others
You lead us not into temptation, but you deliver us from evil.
Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. Amen.

Poetic Reflection:

Mary Oliver expresses one way of viewing the Bread of Life:

“The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist”

Something has happened
To the bread
And the wine.

They have been blessed.
What now?
The body leans forward

To receive the gift
From the priest’s hand,
Then the chalice.

They are something else now
From what they were
Before this began.

I want
To see Jesus,
Maybe in the clouds

Or on the shore,
Just walking,
Beautiful man

And clearly
Someone else
Besides.

On the hard days
I ask myself
If I ever will.

Also there are times
My body whispers to me
That I have.

Closing Prayer

From Sacred Space 2021:

Help us, Lord, when we are limited by our past. When we know we have been blessed, help us to stay before you in trust, aware of how little we deserve, but ready to receive your grace in new ways.