+ Our readings today for the third Sunday in a row have to do with the idea and theme of Jesus as the Bread of Life come down from heaven; and this is only the half-way point: two more Sundays follow with the same theme. Why is that? It is because this is the high point of the "green-vestmented teaching Sundays" – the Sundays of Ordinary Time – ordinary not in content by any means, but ordinary, as in the word "ordinal" or "counting," having to do with counting down the Sundays to the Solemnity of Christ the King in late November before beginning again the whole "life of Christ cycle" in Advent. These Sundays are the high point of this season because they have to do with an enormously important and almost unfathomable gift of God to us.
Advent/ Christmas; Lent/Easter and finally Pentecost – are the three major seasons, celebrations and expositions of the works of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each season is rich in its pageantry and music and readings and festivities. But the point of these five teaching Sundays during the summer months, is that, as far as we Catholic Christians are concerned, Jesus as the very Bread of God's Life come down from heaven is what is meant to sustain, nourish and feed us throughout all of the days of the entire Church year, and throughout our entire lives. Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, is here on earth – by the words of the priest and the working of the Holy Spirit – as an object of adoration; he is here as spiritual nourishment, energy and motivation DAILY! This is astounding good news! Nowhere else can Jesus be found in this particular, truly awesome and truly miraculous way; in no other way can his disciples be so intensely spiritually fortified than this way; and in no other way can any human being feel him residing completely and deeply within the inner recesses of his human heart! We are fortunate beyond words to be able to eat this bread that not even the angels can eat! What an extraordinary gift the Eucharist is – an unmerited and exceptional gift from the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit!
The first reading today intimates the power of the Eucharist: eating and drinking the food that God himself will provide – (not by means of an angel – but by means of one who is higher than the angels – Jesus himself, through the ministry of his priests) – will give you all the strength you need to walk through your entire life until you reach the mountain of God and the heavenly banquet prepared for you there!
The gospel passage gives a typical worldly reaction to Jesus direct statement that he himself is this "bread that came down from heaven;" they ridiculed him and said: Yeah right! You are just the son of Mary and Joseph. You are just a carpenter turned rabbi. Who do you think you are saying you are "bread come down from heaven?" At the same time Jesus is trying to at least convince some to listen to what he has to say: because if you do listen and act on what you hear, he tells them, then the Father will draw you to himself through me and my words: and that is the only way that you can get to him! Eating the bread that I give, the bread of my flesh will bring you to everlasting life – will bring you to the Father himself! And all you have to do is to BELIEVE IT and then EAT IT and then LIVE THE LIFE OF THE BEATITUDES THAT YOU ARE NOW EMPOWERED TO DO BECAUSE YOU DID EAT!
All it takes is faith for all of this to work and to make perfect sense: my dear people, pray, pray, pray for more and more faith and you will be amazed at how your life will change for the better and forever!
God bless you!
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