Gospel Jn 6:24-35
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaumlooking 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.”
Homily
The saying “Familiarity breeds contempt” can be applied to almost every area of human life and we have to make special efforts to ensure that familiarity does not affect negatively our relationships. Bread which in one form or another is perhaps the most common food for many peoples, something with which we are very familiar is often left to become moldy or too hard to eat. Bread ends up in garbage bins and drains and it is to this food, so familiar to all of us that Jesus identifies himself. In the Gospel reading given to us this weekend for our meditation, Jesus tells the crowd who were searching for him, “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.” Of course the people are mystified by this answer and think that Jesus is speaking of something akin to the manna in the desert. So they say to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus then makes the declaration in which he describes himself as the true bread. Jesus tells them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
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All of us baptized and confirmed have over the years been taught that Jesus is there for us. We have called him; the divine guest; our Lord; food for the soul; and so many other things, yet like bread, Jesus Christ is treated so often with contempt or without importance. We forget for whole days that He is there for us. We never really talk to him, we often consciously do what we know is contrary to his wishes. We refuse to take Jesus Christ, “the true bread from heaven”, seriously. So often we remember Him, only when we need something. Familiarity can really breed contempt, even for God.
The question posed for us then is this; can we dare to be different? Can we resist the temptation to take God for granted? In a world in which God ceases to be important do we take God seriously? Obviously many do not, but many do. The examples of the lives of the saints tell us that down through the ages there have been men and women who have taken God seriously; who have found fulfillment as the Gospel reading tells, us in their belief and union with Jesus Christ; men and women for whom Jesus Christ has truly been the bread of life; women and men who never hunger, and who never thirst, because they have believed in Jesus Christ and his message and in believing have truly found the fulfillment and happiness which we all seek. May each one of us experience Jesus as the bread of life and because of the fulfillment and happiness which we will achieve help others to experience Jesus Christ also as the Bread of Life.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, we know that your Son Jesus is the bread of life but so often that knowledge remains in our head and does not go down to our hearts. Help us Father to love Jesus with mind heart and soul so that we do not take Him for granted or let familiarity breed contempt. Help us to experience Him as the only One who truly brings the fulfillment and happiness we seek. We ask this through the same Jesus your Son and Mary our Mother. Amen
