The readings for the Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year B may be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080424.cfm
In this week’s gospel passage from the evangelist St. John, people are hungry.
And I can relate to that. Alot actually. Don’t judge me.
So hungry they are crossing the sea to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
Some of the five thousand that Jesus fed from five barley loaves and two fish last weekend.
They want to be fed. And Jesus knows it.
But Jesus did not come to be our personal food delivery service, like Uber Eats or GrubHub.
Jesus knows what we need and that “bread to live on” will never satisfy true hunger.
Now most of us can’t relate to real physical hunger.
Most of us won’t go hungry tonight.
But we’ve all had times when we’ve felt empty and want to be filled.
That’s why Jesus proclaims “I am the bread of life.”
Because “bread to live on” and the “bread of life” are two different things.
Because we’re all hungry for something.
Hungry for food, for comfort.
for belonging or forgiveness or acceptance.
Hungry to be loved, understood or healed.
Hungry for success, safety, adventure, security, travel.
However we feel, some of us will hunger our whole lives.
We may find something that fills us for a bit,
Only to find we end up hungrier than before.
But, the good news is we were made this way on purpose,
in the image and likeness of God with this deep hunger,
that He knows can only ever truly be satisfied in one way.
Because God speaks to us in our hunger.
He uses our hunger to teach and guide us.
And while we search far and wide for something to satisfy it,
God is waiting to feed us the one thing that truly satisfies:
Himself.
When Jesus speaks the words, “I am the bread of life;
he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”
He is saying that God wants to feed your soul.
To feed you perfectly with Himself.
Regardless of what we think we are hungry for, we will never be satisfied by the shallow things of the world.
That is why Jesus left us Himself in the Eucharist as “the bread of life”.
Not a symbol or remembrance of Him or communal meal or sign or gimmick
to trick us into feeling closer to Him.
Jesus left us “the bread of life” -
the Eucharist to fill us up with the reality of Himself,
to truly be in communion with Him,
His real presence,
body, blood, soul and divinity.
You know, we hear these words so many times
that I think they can lose their meaning if we don’t take the time to recognize how truly remarkable they are.
The bread of life, the Eucharist is Jesus. Period.
That is the beauty and power of the Eucharist.
And that hunger we feel in our soul is actually an invitation from God,
The One who will never cease trying to draw us to Himself.
That hunger in our soul is a good thing.
Follow where it leads - to the Eucharist.
Trust. Surrender. Believe. Receive.
Not feeling it?
When was the last time you went to sacramental confession?
I’d be willing to bet that many of us here can’t remember the exact date and time since our last sacramental confession.
We may think we don’t need to go.
But, most of us wouldn’t think about eating dinner before we washed our hands thoroughly,
nor would we work a full day, sweaty and dirty and then hop unclean into our nice, clean bed at night.
How then can we think it is ok to consume our Lord with a soul that needs a good scrub?
Maybe that’s why we’re not feeling what we should.
So, if you take anything away from this homily today, I ask you to take this.
Only God can satisfy our endless longing.
Allow Him to respond to your needs and feed you spiritually with the Eucharist.
Be courageous and recognize that the Eucharist is Jesus Himself.
Prepare well to satisfy your hunger by receiving Jesus in a state of grace,
After having made a proper examination of conscience and good sacramental confession.
It’s no secret that we are all hungry.
We were made that way on purpose.
The bread of life is waiting to fill us up.
Let us ask ourselves - are we truly ready to eat?
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