Some are hungry physically and some others are spiritually.  Jesus alone nourishes and takes care of our hunger

18th Sunday of the Ordinary time. Dear People of God,

We reflect on Exodus 16:2-4,12-15; Ephesians 4:17,20-24; and the Gospel of John 6:24-35.

A doctor told the diabetic patient to be watchful with his intake of food and so he suggested him to have a small cup of rice for his servings.  He asked the doctors: whether he has to eat the small cup before meal of after meal.

We continue to read from 6th    chapter of John’s Gospel.  Jesus fed the multitude of people with five barely loaves and two fish.  It is a sign in the Gospel of John.  Who are we looking for in the Church? Or rather what are we looking for?

There three sets of two things emerge as we reflect the readings of the day.

We want God to dance according to the tune, when God refuses, we blame God.

I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE is the theme of the week.

Two types of hunger:

We feel so intense when we are physically hungry.  But the spiritual hunger is either not taken care or suppressed as less important.  Spiritual and bodily hunger, food that lasts and that perishes and rewarding life or retrieving   We all are hungry.  Some are hungry physically and some others are spiritually.  Jesus alone nourishes and takes care of our hunger.

When hunger comes, we change totally.  We forget many things including God.  We are hungry for love, when we are young; hungry for recognition in adulthood; hungry for lust and luxuries as we grow up; hungry for knowledge, fame, and recognition as we grow old.   Faith in Jesus is the food that strengthens us when we are hungry.

Our Longing for food:  The people of Israel were so longing for food and complaining to Moses against God.  New freedom made them to question God forgetting the slavery of Egypt.  They began to appreciate the food that they had during the slavery.  “As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death.”

Like the people of Israel, who followed their hunger of the stomach not the soul, at times we too are not that serious about the salvation the Lord offers to us too. Slavery with good food looked attractive to them, as sinning with sumptuous food. “You have planted much but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:6)

God cares for us even when we complain. God fed them with the food from Heaven in the desert.  Manna was the free gift to the people, yet they were not satisfied.  Manna made their minds to be contented for that day not hoarding it for the next so that they can depend and rely on God.

In the second reading, St. Paul tells the Ephesians that they cannot live according to their whims and fancy but to put on Christ in becoming new person.  He wants us to leave our addictive and complacent ways that offers pleasure forgetting the presence.

Jesus admonishes the people that they need to work for peace, justice, and truth than to live for food alone.

For all our hunger, Jesus is the nourishment.  He is the new manna.  The Eucharist takes care of our anxiety, fear, depression, worries, and sickness.  ““I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Two kinds of Food: Sustaining food that nourishes our entire being while supplemental food that takes care of our body alone.  It is needless to expound about which food we seek after so much.  Values, preference, choices of our lives depend on that give us pleasure right now not on what could sustain us integrally.

The crowd is hungry again.  The people ate the heart’s content are following from Galilee to Capernaum.  Jesus chides them saying that they are looking for Him because of the food not because of Him as person.  Jesus himself pointed out to them that it was not Moses but God who fed them.  He compares Himself with God by claiming that He is the Bread of life that came down from Heaven.  Whoever believes in Him will never be hungry.  People were looking for food and miracles not for the person of Jesus.

Jesus offers the most important I AM statement.  Jesus then answers simply: “I AM the Bread of Life.” “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).

Jesus is the new manna that sustains us.  From birth to death, Jesus remains the food for us.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem that means ‘house of bread’; while he was in the world, He made us believe that He is the living bread.  “Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” (Mt.26:26).  By the one sacrifice on the Cross, Jesus gave us His Body and Blood.  Till this very moment, He promises us, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt.28:20).

The right thing to do is to believe in Him.  Believe Him in Presence of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist.  We are all here with the same hunger, a hunger for the Word, the Bread, and the Person of Christ.  God’s tender love, mercy and affection continues to be available in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist propels us to actions that takes care of the hunger in the suffering humanity.  It is the participation and sharing in the bread of life, Jesus himself.

Two types of life:  life that is renewed and willing to share with the hungry.  The recent study published Entitled “Hunger Hotspots”, the report by the Rome-based agencies warns of acute food insecurity in the August to November 2021 period. They are greatly concerned that food insecurity continues to grow in scale and severity because of conflicts, the economic repercussions of Covid-19, and the climate crisis.

We can continue to live a life that bothers, worries, and cares about ourselves satisfying with the world of Me.

We need to surrender to the Lord in the Eucharist.  There is so much of depression, worries, lack of trust, and there is hunger and thirst right within each one of us.  “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Ps.42:1,2). Let us stay hungry for the Bread of Life as long as we live here on earth.  May the Lord bless each one of us.