The implication of Christ as Bread of Life

IT caused great astonishment when Christ told his disciples that he was the Bread of Life that they have to eat. “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?” was their immediate response. (Jn 6,52) 

 And so, Christ had to explain what he meant. Only then, he said, would they gain eternal life and be in union with him as they ought to be. But what was also implied in this gospel episode was that just as Christ gave himself to his disciples as the Bread of Life to be eaten, so should we be some kind of Bread of Life to be given to everybody else. 

 In other words, like Christ we have to give ourselves completely to the others. It’s not just a matter of giving much of ourselves to the others. It is to give ourselves totally to the others. 

 This should be the mindset we have to develop if we truly want to be like Christ as we should, Christ who is the very pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. 

 This task and duty will definitely take our whole life here on earth to develop. And it would surely involve always rectifying our intentions such that whatever we do we do it always for the glory of God. We do it with Christ, in Christ and for Christ. 

 Yes, we cannot overemphasize this truth of our faith about ourselves. Christ and us are supposed to be one. Christ, for his part, already identifies himself with each one of us. We should correspond by identifying ourselves with him too. Let’s never forget that how Christ was and is should also be how we should be. 

 We have to realize that this duty is meant to be acted out not only from time to time, but rather all the time. It has to be a moment-to-moment affair. To be sure, it will involve a gradual process, but we should start it as soon as possible. 

 What can truly help is to take care first of our faith, studying closely the life and example of Christ who did nothing other than to do the will of his Father. That should always be our attitude. 

 We have to be wary of our tendency to fall to some forms of self-indulgence that can come to us in very subtle ways, because we can trick ourselves into thinking that we are ok just because we are doing a lot of things when what actually is happening is simply indulging on our own interests. 

 Thus, we always need to rectify our intentions. We have to see to it that everything that we do is for us to look, find and serve Christ, carrying out his will and not ours simply. Better said, we have to make our will conform completely to the will of God as shown to us by Christ. 

 And if we are truly doing the will of God, then like Christ, we should always be concerned about the salvation of all men, starting with our own selves. We just have to be more wary of the danger of self-indulgence which is a constant threat, especially these days when good and evil are so mixed up that we would mostly likely be left confused and easily taken by sweet poisons that today’s new things readily offer.

Christ and our life in the world

AS we all know, Christ makes himself the Bread of Life that gives us the true divine life even as we traverse in this world that is full of evil. It’s a life that knows how to unify the different elements in our life, the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the local and the global, the good things and the bad things in this world, etc. 

 To be sure, it is not simply a matter of receiving the Bread of Life in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist that would enable us to live the life that is proper to us as children of God who are his image and likeness, children of his, sharers of his divine life here on earth. 

 It is a matter of transforming ourselves into “alter Christus,” which is both a matter of God’s grace which we receive especially through the sacraments and also our all-out effort to follow Christ, giving a whole mind and heart to him. 

 Let’s hope that insofar as things depend on us, we can truly say at the end of each day that because of our efforts, we are becoming more and more like Christ. This should be the ultimate criterion to use to see if we are truly progressing in our life everyday or not. 

 When we truly are like Christ, we would know how to be friends of everyone regardless of who they are. Our friendship and love for others assumes a universal scope to such an extent that we consider as our friends those who may consider us as their enemies. 

 In other words, we have to learn how to be friends with everyone regardless of how they are, because only then can we help them to attain the ultimate goal common to all of us. We also have to learn how to deal with any situation, no matter how difficult and ugly, not so much in physical terms as in the spiritual and moral. If we are truly Christian, we would have his desire “not to condemn the world but to save.” (cfr. Jn 3,17) 

 As one saint said it, we should be willing to go to the very gates of hell, without entering it, of course, if only to save a soul. This obviously would require of us to be tough and clear about the real goal to reach, and yet flexible and adaptable to any person and to any condition. Let’s hope that we can echo St. Paul words: “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Cor 9,22) 

 In this regard, we have to learn how to fraternize with sinners. We have to replicate Christ’s attitude towards sinners, who actually are all of us—of course, in varying degrees. We have to give special attention to the lost sheep and to the lost coin. We have to open all possible avenues to be in touch with everyone, including sinners. 

 This capacity to fraternize with sinners is first of all a gift from God which we have to take care of and develop. It’s meant to mature us and to involve us in the continuing work of redemption of Christ. It’s not meant, of course, to dilute the teachings of Christ and the very essence of goodness and true holiness.

To Jesus through Mary

REMEMBER that beautiful gospel episode about the wedding in Cana. (cfr. Jn 2,1-11) Mary, very much a woman who always sees details often missed by men, noticed that the celebration was running out of wine, and so she asked her son to do something about it. Though initially denied, she still went on to tell the stewards to do whatsoever Jesus would tell them. And the first miracle happened. Water became high quality wine. 

 This gospel episode somehow reminds us that if we would just have a bit of common sense, we would know that it is always wise to go to Mary in order to get to Christ. As a saint once said, Mary is the shortest, surest and safest way to be with Christ. 

 Let’s see to it that our devotion to her grows. And if it is practically dormant if not dead, then let’s stir it up to life again. She is important to us. In fact, she is indispensable to us. She cannot be treated as an optional feature in our spiritual life, nor something decorative or appendical only. 

 While she is not God and, therefore, not to be accorded with the worship that is only due to God (latria), she rightly deserves to be given the highest form of veneration (hyperdulia) among all the saints who are already with God in heaven. 

 She never undermines our relationship with God. If anything, all she does is to bring us to God and to help us fulfill the will of God. Thus, in that episode of the wedding at Cana where she noticed that the hosts were running out of wine, she told the servants, “Do whatever he (Christ) tells you.” (Jn 2,5) 

 She is a mother to us. In fact, she fulfills the perfection of motherhood because she conceived the Son of God in her womb, thereby making herself, in a mysterious sense, the mother of God (Mater Dei), since Jesus is not only man, but is, first of all, God. 

 And since Christ is the “prototype” of the redeemed humanity, she, being the mother of Christ, can rightly be called the mother of all humanity that has been redeemed by Christ. 

 The secret of developing a deep devotion to Mary is in our imitation of her readiness to say, “Fiat,” (Be it done) to whatever God tells us through our faith. With that word, we unite ourselves with God and become members of God’s family. Let’s remember what Christ said about this point: “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12,50) 

 Let’s develop the habit of quickly saying “Fiat” or “Amen” to whatever our faith tells us. This way, we would be imitating Mary and would bring us immediately to Christ who is our everything. 

 Let us develop the instinct of bringing Our Lady wherever we are. To be with her is to be with Christ, to be sure. For this, let us soften our heart to welcome and accommodate her, and develop an intimate mother-and-child relationship with her. With her we can never outgrow our condition as a little child who always needs his mother. 

 Let’s develop a certain fondness for her by availing of some human means that are used for this purpose. These can be developing the habit of looking affectionately at her pictures, saying something nice to her, saying the rosary and explore the different mysteries of Christ’s life with her, etc.