Bread of life

“I MYSELF am the bread of life. No one who comes to me shall ever be hungry, no one who believes in me shall thirst again.” (Jn 6,35)

We need to enliven our belief that in Christ we have everything, we have what is truly and ultimately needed by us. Many of our needs are passing, are of a temporal nature. It is Christ who we truly and ultimately need.

And he gives himself so completely to us as to make himself bread to be eaten by us. Although he is like air since we can not truly live without him, he compares and makes himself bread, because unlike air, he as bread has to be deliberately sought.

This duty of seeking him is what we have to be more aware of. In the Gospel itself, we hear our Lord saying, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Mt 6,33)

            

We have to learn to subordinate our earthly and temporal concerns and plans to the task of seeking Christ. We have to be wary of being influenced mainly if not solely by the standards of practicality, convenience and other worldly values. That’s our problem. God is often left behind in the play of our competing interests.

           

As our Lord said: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” (Mt 16,26) We should not lose the spiritual and supernatural character of our life, and do everything to keep ourselves from being dominated by a purely worldly and temporal outlook in life.

           

We need to seek Christ and be close to him always. This intimacy is what we have to build up and maintain. Thus, we have to learn to make seeking Christ a permanent attitude and disposition in our life. Whatever we may be doing, whatever situation we may find ourselves in, let us always seek Christ.

           

Our Lord himself tells us to seek him with insistence. “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you…” (Lk 11,9) We have to understand that to lead a truly upright and moral life, we need to be existentially close with Christ.

           

And Christ is actually very close to us. He is actually very accessible to us. He does not play hard to get. He is at the very core of our being, because he is the main cause of our existence. Besides, his overpowering love for us that makes him truly close to us. It’s us rather who tend to ignore him.

           

We have to understand that our moral life does not depend so much on our knowledge of moral principles as on our living relationship with God. It’s this intimate relationship with God that would effectively guide us as to how to think, speak and act. It’s this relationship that would enable us to live charity all the time in spite of difficulties.

           

This intimacy is attained when we develop this Eucharistic mind frame, that abiding belief based on Christ’s teaching, that in the Eucharist we have the real presence of Christ and, in fact, the very bread of life, the bread that gives us the true, ultimate life, and not just biological, physical and material life.

           

We need to bolster our Eucharistic devotion. Do we, for example, go deep into the study and knowledge of the doctrine about the Eucharist, allowing its truth to sink deep into our consciousness and to bear fruit of many practical expressions?

           

Do we have a longing for the Holy Mass, a yearning to receive our Lord in Communion? Do we believe in the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, and because of that, are we eager to visit him in the Blessed Sacrament, bringing all our thoughts and desires to him?

           

When we pass by a church where we know the Blessed Sacrament is kept, do we spontaneously feel something special, like at least greeting our Lord from a distance, and telling him things, including pouring out our concerns? Do we feel good just to be in front of the Blessed Sacrament?

           

We actually need to ask, even to beg, for grace for us to be able to have this attitude toward the Eucharist in its various forms of presence (Blessed Sacrament), sacrifice (Holy Mass) and food (Communion). Let’s pray for one another for this purpose. But let’s also do our part.

           

We should never waste what our Lord is giving us—and that is he himself.