Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Eucharist, source of divine energy
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you ….” So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” So they said to him, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. Jn 6,24-35
We approach this page of the gospel taking off our sandals, like Moses before the burning bush: “Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro …. There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush …. When the Lord saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground”(Ex 3,1-5). Taking off the sandals means that we must leave behind all protections, all preconceptions, every idea of God that we have, in order to be free to accept the mystery revealed by the Gospel today. Here is the message: “my Father gives you the true bread from heaven”, of which the food Providence lays on out tables every day is just an image. This bread is the Eucharist, which comes from the Father and has the power to bring us back to the Father. After the incarnation of the Son of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Eucharist is the second gift the Father has given to mankind. They are two mysteries that have changed – and keep on changing every day – the way people live and relate to each other. Like the daily bread gives the body the necessary energy for living and working, the Eucharist gives us the spiritual strength to love God and men, as a response to the gift given to men by the Father through the Incarnation, which the Son confirmed sacrificing himself on the Cross. Like Christ’s resurrection was the result two thousand years ago, the result achieved by Eucharist every day is our own resurrection from the old man to the new man of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Eucharist is a source of living divine energy that feeds our spirit and has the power to transform our days, otherwise dull, in an uninterrupted array of moments of joy, praise and peace, even within problems, difficulties and persecutions. “Why do you go every day and receive the Eucharist?” my friend Sergio asked me some time ago, during one of our walks…”Because I need it – I replied – I need it to feed my life”. Such an answer left him a little stunned, but he accepted it.