Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.” Imagine yourself as one of those people listening to the Lord when he was teaching about the bread of life given by the Father. What would be your take on what he was talking about? How would you understand His words?
One of the problems of our reflecting on Gospels is being used to their message. It is evident for us what the Lord meant by saying about the bread for heaven and in many other passages. His words can be fully comprehended only in the light of the true meaning of the sacrament of Eucharist. It is our strength – we know the essence of it. We can see what Jesus taught from the perspective of the whole Gospel, particularly in the light of His Passion, Death and Resurrection as the summit. We are blessed knowing that Jesus speaks about the Eucharist in today’s chapter.
Another blessing we were given is the Eucharist and the Church as the mediator of this sacrament. In fact, we as the Church can find our true identity only in the Eucharistic context as the very reality of communion between God and His people. The Eucharist is not something unknown or incomprehensible, quite the opposite. Nevertheless, one of the major challenges for the Church in the Western Society is such a considerable number of even practising Catholics do not believe in Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist.
Reflecting on today’s passage is a good occasion for thanksgiving for the gift of the sacrament. Let us not exclude from our prayer intentions those who do not yet believe, so their hearts are open to believing in Jesus present in the Eucharistic bread from heaven. I want to ask you also to pray for all those who have not received the Eucharistic bread in Sydney for already over a month. Let their spiritual thirst bring fruits in their lives, and they are consoled and allowed to be fed with the Eucharist soon.
Łukasz Gołąb – Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Sydney, Australia
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