Shanborlang Mawrie csc
Readings: Acts 8: 26-40; Jn 6:44-51
“Whoever eats of this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:51). This bread about which Jesus speaks is his own body. Bread is broken before we share and consume. In the same way Jesus broke himself on the cross and shared himself with the whole world. This is not merely an abstract one but a real and tangible one. Jesus is the mediator between God and his people.
The Almighty God, whom we cannot see and touch, is made visible to us through Jesus, the bread of life. Jesus offers us his body and blood in the Eucharist, and our reception of them in faith can give us eternal life. Reception of the body of Jesus would mean acceptance of his lifestyle, i.e., acceptance of love as the principle of our life. Love knows no boundary, it is unconditional, sacrificial, and transformative.
Love is the only thing which can satisfy human beings fully. As we see in the life of the Ethiopian eunuch who invited Philip to join him in his chariot and expressed to Philip the desire to know Jesus, “How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?” Today we are reminded that it is not we who find Jesus. God comes to us first always, even before we can think of going to him through different people and incidents.
Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Jesus desires that we crave for him in the same way as we crave for physical food because he alone is the bread of life.