I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE

Ex 16,2-4.12-15; Ps 77; Eph 4,17.20-24; Jn 6,24-35
5 AUGUST
Jesus is the eternal truth made incarnate truth. It is the divine light that has become human light. In every dialogue he never forgets what his mission is; he never hides it, never goes around it, never lives it in a partial way, never disconnects from it; never does he live in one place as the Incarnate Word and in another only as a friend, or brother, or companion, or simply as a man who speaks to other men to seek together paths of goodness. He is the eternal good and always proposes himself without any loss of time. Never might the Father address to him the reproach of having been negligent, never partial, never tolerant, never confusing and never undressed of his mandate. He has always operated from the fullness of truth to lead to the fullness of it. Full of the Holy Spirit, he was daily moved by Him to say and do only what the Father asked of him. This truth of his is the seal that in the Gospel according to John Jesus himself places on all his public life. Nothing in Him was from Him. Everything was from the Father.

Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me” (Jn 12,44-50).

Jesus knows why He is sought: so that he gives them more bread. This is almost always the reason why man seeks the Lord: by some grace for the body. He immediately reveals to the Jews that looking for him for a bread that perishes does not make any sense. He can give and gives much more. He can give and gives a bread that lasts for eternal life. The bread they have eaten is only a sign, a pale figure. There is not even any comparison with the bread given by Moses in the desert. The bread of God that gives life to the world is not made of matter. It’s a person. The bread of life is Jesus himself. This bread can be eaten only with faith in Christ Jesus. One welcomes him, believes in Him and receives him as true bread? He will not be hungry anymore. One believes in him? He will not be thirsty anymore.

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” So they said to him, “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 him, “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.

The methodology of Jesus must be lived by every one of his disciples. Jesus, true disciple of the Father, lived it perfectly, because he was always in the Holy Spirit. Even the Christian, if he wants to live as Jesus the Lord every dialogue with men, must be in the Holy Spirit and moved by him, otherwise the dialogue is sterile and vain.

Mother of the Lord, Angels and Saints ensure that we are true imitators of Christ Jesus.