Monday of the Third Week of Easter
(Acts 6:8-15; John 6:22-29)
A new discount supermarket chain started selling milk for ninety-nine cents a gallon. Of course, the chain lost money on the milk, but it could tolerate the setback. Its purpose was to use the low price of milk as a sign to shoppers of the real savings that they could obtain if they always shopped in its stores. Jesus explains in the gospel today that his feeding of the five thousand had a similar sign value.
Jesus tells the people that the bread he multiplied was more than physical food. Plentiful and helpful, it served as a sign of the spiritual food which he provides. In other words, the bread that fed five thousand points to the abundant life that Jesus’ words and works nourish. They, and not lobster or rib-eye, give life to the full.
When we take Jesus’ body and blood at Mass, we should realize that we are opting for him and not the luxuries of this world. It is to say that his truth and his love are what we most relish and what we are willing to die for.
