Monday of the
Third Week of Easter
(Acts 6:8-15; John 6:22-29)
A 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 red ink. Its
purpose was to bring shoppers into the store where they would buy other
commodities not so inexpensively priced.
It used the low priced milk as a sign of the savings customers could obtain
by shopping in its stores. Jesus explains
in the gospel today that his feeding of the five thousand had a similar sign
value.
He tells the people that the bread he provided was more
than physical food. Multiplied
exponentially, the bread served as a sign of the spiritual food which he always
provides. In other words, the bread that
fed five thousand points to love of God’s kingdom. It, and not lobster or rib-eye, gives 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 love is what we most
relish in life.
