“I Am the Bread of Life.” (Jn.
6:48)
On Being Bread
Bread
from heaven in the OT
Elijah
went a day's journey into the desert, and sat down in the shade of a tree and
wished he could die. “It’s too much, Lord,” he said. “Take away my life; I
might as well be dead!” Then Elijah lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Wake up and eat.” He looked
around and saw a loaf of bread and a jar of water near his head. He ate and
drank, and lay down again. The Lord’s angel returned and woke him up a second
time and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey
will be too much for you.” Elijah got up, and ate the bread and drank the water.
That gave him enough strength to walk forty days to Sinai, the holy mountain."
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Glory to you, Lord.
Glory to you, Lord.
Bread from Heaven in the NT
The Jews started
grumbling because Jesus said, "I am the bread which came down from
heaven," and they said, "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?'" Jesus answered, "Stop your grumbling! No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draw him to me, and I will raise him on the last
day. It is written in the prophets: “All men shall be taught by God.”[2] This
means that everybody who has heard the Father’s voice and learned from Him will
come to me. (Not that anyone actually sees the Father, for only I have seen
Him.) I tell you the truth: whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread
of life. Your ancestors ate the bread in the desert,[3] but they
died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it
and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats
this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for
the life of the world."
The Jews
quarreled among themselves: "How can this man give us his flesh to
eat?" Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. (Jn. 6:53). Whoever eats
my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last
day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my
flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father
sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; it
is not like the bread your ancestors ate and still died. The one who eats this
bread will live forever."
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Assumption - a harvest feast
The
feast of Assumption this coming Wednesday August 15 is always a turning point.
Summer is just about to begin to depart. Soon the kids will be going back to
school. Soon we'll see and feel the first hints of autumn. Driving along a
country road, we'll suddenly come upon a herd of red and golden maple trees
grazing on a hillside. Soon from open windows at night, we'll drink in deep
refreshing draughts of cool air, as we pull a little heavier blanket over
ourselves, and listen to crickets singing of summer spent. Soon the fruits of
harvest will come rushing in on us, and the older citizens among us will hasten
to capture summer for winter in canning jars.
The
Ascension of Jesus is a harvest feast; it proclaims that one of our own (a
human being and a man) has been harvested – has ascended bodily to the heavenly
throne, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father. St. Paul calls Jesus
"the first fruits of the harvest" (I Cor. 15:20). The Assumption of
Mary is also a harvest feast; it proclaims that another one of our own (a human
being and a woman) has been harvested – has been taken up bodily to the
heavenly throne. If Jesus is the first fruits of the harvest, Mary is the `second
first fruits’ of the harvest.
Jesus gives bread and
is bread
In the opening verses of this 6th
chapter of John, Jesus gives bread to 5000 hungry people, as He miraculously
multiplies 5 loaves of bread and 2
fishes to feed them. (Jn. 6:1- 13) He who said, “I am the light of the world”
(Jn. 8:12), “I am the
gate to the sheepfold” (Jn. 10:9), “I
am the good shepherd” (Jn.10:11), in
the second part of this 6th chapter says, “I
am the bread of life.” (6:48) In the opening verses of this chapter Jesus gives bread as He miraculously feeds 5000 hungry people with 5 loaves of bread
and 2 fishes. In the rest of this chapter Jesus is bread: “I am the bread
of life.”
Being bread on State
Street, Milwaukee
More important than giving bread to others is being bread for them.On State Street. in Milwaukee, WI, between 9th and 10th stands the historic Church of St. Benedict the Moor. It’s the first Catholic church in Milwaukee dedicated to ministry in the African-American community. Daily in the church hall an operation called “Loaves and Fishes” takes place. It’s a reference to John 6:1-13.The story behind that operation is that of a lad[4] who had 5 loaves and 2 fishes which he wanted to share with the hungry people of Milwaukee. So he opened the doors of his little house (which he named Casa Maria) to anyone hungry. Soon there were 5, then 10, then 20 people off the street, `dropping in for supper.’ Soon also there were people from the suburbs who also wanted to share their loaves and fishes. With time the little operation grew so big it had to go in search of a more spacious banquet hall. It finally came to rest at St. Benedict the Moor Church in central-city on Friday 13th November 1970. That Friday 13th was, indeed, a lucky day; it made a dying parish in central city come to life!
Daily
countless hungry people off the street `drop in for supper.’ Daily countless people
from the suburbs come to give bread to the hungry in central city. But what is
even more important, the suburbanites come to be bread for hungry people who’ve hit upon hard times. After serving
the meal they’ve prepared and brought down to central city, they try to be bread for the hungry guests by
sitting down and breaking bread with them. Like Jesus,
they not only give bread, they also try
to be bread.
Being bread on the
streets of New York
Franciscan priest Fr. Mychal Judge was one of the four chaplains
for the New York Fire Department, and the story of his death was one of the
first to come out of the tragedy of 9/11/2001.
He had taken his helmet off to give the last rites to a dying fireman
when suddenly debris came crashing down upon him. He died there on the spot. His body was
carried off to a nearby church and was laid upon the altar.
Unconventional Fr. Mychal had an absolutely encyclopedic
memory for people’s names, birthdays and passions. He knew everyone from the
homeless to Mayor Giuliani himself. Being himself a recovering alcoholic, he
comforted other alcoholics. He assured them they weren’t evil people, but that
they had an illness that needed to be cured. Though he was a true New Yorker,
born and raised in the City, he lived on an entirely different plain of
priorities than most New Yorkers. He wasn’t acquisitive or grabby. He was
utterly unselfish and totally uncomplaining. In a word, he was the bread of life for hungry New Yorkers.
On October 11, 2001 a `Month's Mind
Memorial’ was held in Good Shepherd Chapel, on Ninth Ave. An endless flow of priests, nuns, lawyers,
cops, firefighters, homeless people, rock-and-rollers, recovering alcoholics,
local politicians and middle-aged couples from the suburbs streamed into Good
Shepherd Chapel to memorialize Fr. Mychal. It was an evening of
prayer, stories, traditional Irish music, and personal testimonials about Fr. Mychal.
That legendary man and Saint of 9/11 not only gave bread to hungry people at the friary door, he also was bread for a multitude of people laboring under various hungers
on the streets of New York.
Conclusion
On being bread
Yes, indeed, give bread
to the hungry people on the State Streets of your city, but above all be
bread for them. Yes, indeed, give bread to your kids: give them a nice house
to live in, a good education, and all the toys and things that kids feel they
need, but above all be bread for them. Feed them with the bread of your unselfishness,
kindness, forgiveness, patience, concern for others, etc. At the end of the
day, such bread does double duty: it feeds not only others but yourself as well.
