The hunger for eternity

Readings: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Psalm 78, R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; Gospel – John 6:24-35

This month, our Sunday Gospels will be on the discourse of the Bread of Life. Today’s Gospel is the introduction to the discourse that comes right after the multiplication of the loaves and fish.

In one of his Masses in 2015, Pope Francis reflected on today’s passage.

“Jesus does not eliminate the preoccupation with and search for daily food. No. He doesn’t eliminate the concern for all of this that can make life more advanced. But Jesus reminds us that in the end, the true meaning of our earthly existence is in eternity, is in the encounter with Him, who is gift and giver. And He reminds us as well that human history, with its suffering and joys, needs to be viewed in a context of eternity, that is, in the context of that definitive encounter with Him. It is the hunger for life—the hunger for eternity—that only He can satisfy because He is the bread of life.”

Pope Francis reminds us of the horizon of our life, which is eternity.

Fr. Catalino G. Arevalo, S.J. would often refer to the Eucharist as the Bread of the Dream, God’s dream for us which is eternity.

Some points to consider while preparing ourselves for the reflections on the discourse in the coming weeks: First is the contrast between the bread of life and the manna in the desert. Second is revisiting the early days of the pandemic as a context to deepen our reflections. Third is the final statement in today’s Gospel.

Bread of Life

Part of the belief of the Jews was that when the Messiah comes, he will perform the great acts of Moses. Jesus picked up on this belief and elevated his own act to providing the Bread of Life.

The Bread of Life integrates the need for the bread that provides sustenance for human life and the bread of the Eucharist that leads to eternal life. This gives us a very clear idea of the gift, the grace of the Mass.

The sacraments of the church promise us the graces we need to live out the gift or the grace of the sacrament.

For example, the sacrament of reconciliation gives us the grace to experience the healing of our relationships with God and with others, those who we offended and the community that was affected.

The sacrament of marriage makes available the grace for a couple to live out their commitment to love one another for life.

The Mass gives us the grace to live out our discipleship, our being a follower of the Lord in the pattern of his passion, death, Cross and Resurrection. He gifted us with the Mass, with his Body and Blood, as a memorial of this saving act. We remember and keep alive this central mystery and grace of our faith.

This is the grace of the Mass which many rediscovered during the pandemic lockdowns. The availability of the Mass through television, cable, and online platforms made it accessible, and thus a renewed devotion to the Mass occurred.

Greatest hope

To this day many continue this devotion through face-to-face Masses in churches and chapels. A good number still attend Mass online. Those who used to go on Sundays only would now go face-to-face on Sundays and more than once a week, some almost daily, on weekdays. There are some who no longer went to Mass, but renewed the devotion.

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This renewed devotion to the Mass will surely have a qualitative impact on the way we live our life individually and communally. I sense that there is a greater openness now to see service, especially to the poor and marginalized, as part of living out our faith.

There is a quicker response to needs of the church, the poor and marginalized, either through the sharing of material resources or of time and effort.

This is what will lead us to a renewal of the grace of the final conversation between the Lord and the people.

“So they said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.’”

I believe we are at the threshold of a renewal in our church, very much rooted and grounded in the renewed devotion to the Mass, to the Bread of Life.

We are coming to an age where people have found the satisfying of their hungers and the quenching of their thirst in Jesus, particularly in their encounter with him in the Eucharist as the Bread of Life.

This is our greatest hope, the Bread of the Dream, God’s dream for us.