Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
1 Kings 19:4-8; Eph 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51
Mauro Prosperi was an Italian police officer who
got lost in the Sahara Desert in 1994. A keen athlete and long-distance runner,
Mauro took part in the 1994 Marathon of the Sands in Morocco, a six-day-long
endurance race in one of the most dry and barren environments on the planet.
During the race, a sandstorm caused Prosperi, then 39 years old, to become disoriented and lose his way. In order to survive, he killed and ate bats. For fluids, he was forced to drink his own urine and lick dew off the rocks. For nine days he walked through the desert and ate insects and reptiles. Finally, he was found and was flown to a hospital. Prosperi lost 35 pounds in body weight during his ordeal in the desert; it took several months before he could eat solid food again!
Prosperi knew that he would not survive if he did not have food and drink and so he resorted to desperate measures. Similarly our spiritual survival requires the nourishment of God’s Word and God’s food in the Eucharist.
The Gospel gives us the precious message that Jesus
is the bread of life. Here we heard the prophetic words of Jesus when he told
them that he is the Living Bread that came down from Heaven. Through these
words, Jesus was preparing the believers for the institution of the Eucharist
which is his special gift to the Church. This living bread will sustain us and
nourish us with its strength on our life’s journey. The crowd, not long before
was so eager to eat the bread in the wilderness, now started grumbling and
refusing to accept his teachings.
Once again John brings here his method of misunderstanding and later correcting the mystery. They were hearing only his literal words and could not understand what they really meant. It requires faith to go beyond the surface level and grasp what Jesus is saying at a deeper level. In fact, Jesus was telling them that he was the bread of kindness, of tenderness, of forgiveness. He was and will continue to be the bread of love, of loving, and of being loved, the bread of self-sacrifice and self-giving. They only have to eat of this bread and they will find the strength to live, courage to continue, and the will to be like him, to be one with him. He is the one who chooses to live with his people and become the daily bread of life.
The Jews in fact clearly
understood the meaning of this bread. When the bread was offered in the temples
to the deity, it was understood that it became part of the divinity. This bread
was then given back to the people to share and eat as their nourishment and the
people believed that they took part in the very divine person and it became
their food. When Jesus said I am the bread of life and called them to eat him,
it was a direct invitation from him to believe in his divinity. In our
Christian context, it is an anticipation of the words of Jesus at the Last
Supper when he said over the bread, “This is my Body which will be delivered
over, handed over for you.” It is a call
to participate in his divinity. This Bread of Life that Jesus gives from his
Father can be summed up in one word: Love.
Therefore Jesus solemnly declares that whoever believes in him will have
eternal life. Believers will now be able
to live in the unending presence of God.
In today’s first reading from 1
Kings we are told, “Strengthened by that food, he (Prophet Elijah) walked forty
days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.” In our life too, we need
the Eucharist to journey towards the Horeb where we can meet the Lord face to face.
Therefore, let us never neglect
the great gift of the Most Holy Eucharist. Let us come to the banquet and be
nourished by the bread of life!
(You are most welcome to add your thoughts and reflections in the comment section below)
Happy Sunday
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