Like the people of Jesus’ day who want a sign and who do see the sign that is before them, we also can cry out to the Lord wanting some sort of sign, wanting clarity, wanting something to reinforce our faith. Is was that same with the Israelites who had been delivered from bondage in our reading from Exodus, who were miraculously brought to safety through the sea. They cried out to God in a voice louder than the rumbling in their stomachs, not having faith that God would provide them food for their journey. They were afraid to trust God. They were afraid to trust their faith. In a moment of doubt, they thought it would be better to go back to Egypt, to go back to the horrors of their captivity in slavery, because at least their basic needs would be met. Even when manna was sent down from heaven, they did not understand that it was a gift from God to meet their needs.
The Israelites had manna in the desert to satisfy their hunger; likewise, we have the true bread from heaven in our Lord Jesus Christ. How is this bread different from the manna that fed the Israelites in the desert? Paul states in his letter to the Ephesians that we are “to put away our old selves, to leave behind our former way of thinking and living” We are to be renewed in the spirit, in the way in which we live, in the way we think in our minds. We are to be open to the grace of holiness that God gives to us. That is how this bread from heaven will feed us, renew us, re-energize us.
Letting the significance of the bread of heaven touch our souls can be a very wondrous event. One of the great honors I have as a priest is distributing the Eucharist during mass. When I look into the eyes of the people and declare that this is “the body of Christ,” the joy and meaning in the faces of the parishioners can be amazing. It is hard to put into words sometimes, but our hearts know what the bread of life means to us and to our own lives.
The daily bread that we receive from Christ brings us new life; it calls us to a process of transformation, and renewal. We as a people of faith live in the same physical world as people without this faith. However, our faith gives us a new lens thru which we look at the world. Through our faith, we are able to believe that the Eucharist is body & blood of Christ. Through our faith, we are able proclaim the dignity of all human life in a secular culture that sees so many people in our society as disposable and unwanted. Through our faith, we are in solidarity and union with Jesus and with our brothers and sisters, in union with them not only when times are good and when the bread we eat is plentiful, but most especially when we are suffering with Jesus on his way to the cross. Through our faith, we are challenged by Jesus Christ to go beyond the skepticism and cynicism that engulfs so much of our world.
As we are challenged and pushed to grow in our faith, Christ approaches us with mercy and love, helping us in our weaknesses and in our unbelief. We are called to go through our lives of faith by looking at the bread and wine of the Eucharist that we share together as a sign of Christ’s love for us, Only our faith in our daily bread will satisfy our hunger and thirst for what is most important in life.
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