Tuesday Reflection

Daily Gospel Reflection April 28^th 2020

Gospel                                                      JN 6:30-35

The crowd said to Jesus:
“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 Jesus,
“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.”

Dear Friends and Family,

            The crowd represents us well.  After all the miraculous events the crowd has experienced at Jesus’ hand, they still demand that Jesus prove himself to them.  They look back to their own history and the gift of the manna that miraculously appeared each day, and they said, do something like that.  Jesus corrects their misunderstanding; it wasn’t Moses that gave the gift but rather God the Father that fed them in the desert.  Then just as in yesterday’s gospel Jesus gives them more than what they ask. 

            They asked for bread that would sustain them physically, but Jesus offers them the gift of his very self.  It is a tangible gift, with a spiritual reality that will bring eternal life.  The crowd wants this gift and asks for the gift to be given to them through all time.  They recognize that Jesus is the one who can give them what they are seeking. They want what Jesus is offering, but do not comprehend how this bread of life will be shared.  The manna was a daily gift.  The Hebrew people in the time of Moses, trusted, they depended upon God’s intersession so that they could live.  The Hebrew people had to eat the bread that was offered to survive in the desert.

            Just like the crowd in the gospel, we also long for the gift of eternal life, but we are amazed by how God offers this life to us.  Our God say, “I am the bread of life.”  He is offering himself as the bread of life.  In the crowd that makes up the Catholic Church today, there are many, if not all among us, who long for the day when we will gather back and our parish churches and are fed at the table by the gift of the Eucharist.  For this is how Jesus said he would be with all people of all time. Some in the crowd have become used to watching on a screen and they may be wondering if it is necessary to return to the Church? (And it may be a while before we return to Church, and that is ok) Some in the crowd are so hungry, they are searching everywhere but the Church in order to be fed. Do they realize they are starving to death?

            Regardless of where we find ourselves, when this pandemic has run its course and we return to our Churches for Mass, how will we approach our Lord at the table? Like the crowd in today’s gospel, will we proclaim, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Will we recognize that Jesus is the one who gives us what we are seeking?  This is how Jesus told us that he would be with all people for all time. Let us pray that as we grow in our love for, devotion to, and understanding of the Eucharist, may all Catholics know the real presence of Jesus in the Body of Christ.   May we all live our lives in the grace of that real presence