BREAD OF THE ROAD.
August 11, 2024.
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – B.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal
life. I am the bread of life.”
A Beninese proverb says: “The world is a journey, the
afterworld is home.” A Congolese proverb adds: “You cannot work for food when
there is no food for work.”
I read somewhere that "If bread fueled men's work, it
structured women's." And somewhere else, someone said, "Bread not
only brings good health, it helps maintain it." We all need food to live.
Without food, life is easily shortened, and we vanish. In our pilgrimage on
this earth, food counts among the primarily necessities. Why do people labor?
Why all the pains one gives to himself every day? Are there not all to get
something put under our teeth? Sure, one does not live for bread, but one needs
bread (food) to live.
Today, again, like the two previous Sundays, the liturgy
emphasizes the theme of the bread of life. The Eucharist is likely presented
today as the Bread for the Road.
In the first reading, we are given to meditate on the
beautiful experience of the Prophet Elijah. Queen Jezebel vows to kill the
Prophet Elijah to avenge the death of all her false prophets. In his anguish,
and to have life safe, the Prophet flees to the desert. Tired from the journey
and the trial he is evading, the Prophet thought of giving up. So, he decided
to sit under a broom tree and pray for death. God, however, won't let this
happen. He cares for his chosen ones. He will always, as we said last Sunday,
provide for their needs. To Elijah today, he gives the needed bread for
revigorating and setting for the road. We read that two times, the Angel of the
Lord came to comfort the Prophet and feed him.
Elijah's experience is that of many people today who need
comfort, consolation, and strength for their journey in life. Life gives them
so much hard times that, in the end, their only prayer is for death. Many are
they who face depression and psychological crises due to hard times in life.
Some, unfortunately, unable to sustain their problems, give up on suicide. To
all who suffer and are persecuted or find life hard, the Angel of the Lord
says: "Get up and eat, or the journey will be too long for you." Get
up, do not give up. God will always provide comfort for your journey.
The Gospel fills us with the assurance of God's proximity
and providence. Jesus, after feeding the huge crowd with the five loaves and
two fish, teaches them about the bread of life, the bread of the journey. The
first point is people's skepticism. They refuse to see and know Jesus beyond
the mere natural and biological, or better, beyond what they think knowing of
his biological origins. “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know
his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
This act of lack of faith would lead to a greater self-affirmation of Jesus:
"I am the bread of life... I am the living bread that came down from
heaven..." Through these words, the Lord stretches on our needs of him.
Without him, no one has life. His Body is given so that, when we feed on him,
we can live. The Holy Eucharist for us, is all that we need for a solid and
consistent spiritual life. Our souls are fed on the Eucharist and set free by
it.
John 6:41-51 is a solemn proclamation of Jesus as the Bread
given for our life. John opens today’s extract with a quite surprising
sentence: “The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, "I am the bread
that came down from heaven…" He speaks of them complaining. So, once
again, the Israelites (Jews) are described to be a group of famous complainers.
The truth, however, is, they are hardly alone. We are also all tempted to
feel abandoned when life becomes difficult. Very often, many of us challenge
the scriptures and our historical Christian beliefs when we run counter to
popular culture, and complain when God fails to meet our expectations. The only
answer to all these complaints is what Jesus insists on, a firm belief. “Amen,
amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”
Without faith, we cannot know the Lord beyond our human
criteria and specters. Humanly, we are all limited and closed in categories.
But faith leads us beyond. Faith opens us to heavenly values. It is only
through faith we are led to the perfection of life in the Lord.
The episode of the multiplication of bread and the
catechesis that springs from it are all a calling to a firm faith, not only for
the Jews who are known to be eternal opponents to the Lord but also for his
disciples and so to you and me who are in this journey of knowing the Lord. We
cannot truly know Jesus Christ and accept and profess him as our bread of life
and our Savior without a strong and firm faith in him. It is only through faith
and grace that we can open ourselves to the works of the Spirit and let him
lead our whole being. And once the Spirit is at work in us, we truly become
adoptive children of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, imitators of Christ
in all ways. We do away with all bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and
reviling, along with all malice. We learn to be kind to one another,
compassionate, and forgiving one another as God has forgiven us in Christ.
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