Sunday, August 1, 2021

 Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Exodus 16:2-4.12-15; Ephesians 4: 7.20-24; John 6:24-35)

People always seek happiness. Many think that money will bring it to them. So they buy lottery tickets. However, according to the researchers, those who win the lottery do not stay happy for long.  Sure, they feel excited for a while, but before long their temperaments change. First, the average person who wins the lottery goes broke within a few years. Another thing is that the lucky winner soon discovers that money cannot satisfy the heart’s deepest desires. They are like the Jews in the gospel today thinking that receiving free bread will make them happy.

Jesus rebukes the people for having sought him out to get more food. It is not that he wants to deny them the necessities of life. Rather, he wants to instruct them that the fulfillment of life's purpose lies not in satisfying the appetites but in believing in him. For this reason, he proclaims at the end of the passage: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger ... "

By giving us himself as food, Jesus shows us the need to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others. God, our Father in heaven, gives us life as a gift. To thank him for this great benefit we have to give ourselves to others in genuine love. As soon as we realize this truth, we draw closer to the Father and we feel His great care for us. We have the examples of the saints to help us in this endeavor. Father Gratian Murray was a brother of La Salle who worked for many years in the Philippines. He there he founded an orphanage. When the bishop asked Brother Gratian to receive ordination for lack of priests in his diocese, he could not refuse. Then, Father Gratian became ill with cancer. Medicines came from the United States to cure it. However, Father Gratian refused to take them because they required him not to drink any alcohol for thirty days. He said it was more important for his boys to receive Holy Communion than for him to be cured.

In the first reading the Israelites ask of the soft powder: "'What is this?'" Moses replies, "'This is the bread that the Lord gives you for food.'" Scientists today try to explain the phenomenon of bread. They say that the desert bread is like the resin of the tamarisk tree that has the texture of wax and melts to the ground with the sun. It may be, but we Catholics explain it differently. The bread of the desert is a prototype of the bread that Jesus offered at the Last Supper with his disciples and that is offered to us in every mass. It is his flesh that, like the bread of the desert, gives life, not so much physical life but eternal life.

A few years ago, a book entitled White Bread was released. The author wrote that many scoff at white bread today as non-nutritious, but they are wrong. He added that white bread is fortified with vitamins and has no impurities. It is something like that with the Eucharistic bread. Some non-Catholics think it is of little value. However, we know that its value is infinite. It nourishes us not so much with physical life but with eternal life.

No comments: