Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Scripture Readings

These are very busy months, weeks, and days. For me, the last few years have been this way. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. But I am not the only one. Everyone is busy. I don’t know how you parents balance home, work, children, family, school, and so much more. The pandemic has added even more stress on families. Really, how do you do it? 

My focus, though, is just a little different. Besides all you and I ‘do,’ what is at the core? When all is said and done, what remains at the center of our being and existence?

In my reflection today, I would like to reflect on the core of human and Christian existence. The gospel reading is particularly helpful in this. Once more, just like in the last couple of weeks, the first and gospel readings are about bread. However, in today’s gospel reading, the conversation between Jesus and his hearers has shifted. From, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” (Jn 6:5) Jesus elevates the conversation to, “I am that bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:41). But the people found it difficult to comprehend Jesus’ transition from ‘bread’ to ‘bread of life”. They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (Jn 6:42). Jesus was leading people to the deeper questions that human beings must pose to themselves. Jesus was leading the people to discover their core pursuit, but their thoughts were embroiled in mundane realities. 

How can we not find ourselves in the same place? Let me offer a reflection on this question and on the core of human life and existence. I offer this reflection in three points.   

Bread is Life

At the very outset, let me say this – bread is life. Hunger kills, and Jesus understood this well. His “Bread of Life” teaching began with Jesus caring for hungry people. The miracle of the multiplication of loaves was not merely a ploy to somehow compel people to think about “bread from heaven.” Jesus was truly and genuinely concerned about hunger. In fact, in the only prayer that Jesus taught, he taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Mt 6: ?) We see this also in today’s first reading. Elijah was ready to give up on life. Twice, in today’s first reading, an angel provides him food and water to Elijah to strengthen him so that he could make the forty day and forty nights journey to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God (1 Kgs 19:4-8). God does not expect human beings to survive without food. 

Yet, bread is also used as an analogy to help understand the centrality of God in human life.  In the desert, when the devil came to Jesus and asked Jesus to change stone into bread, Jesus answered, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). Again, in the story of the Samaritan woman when the disciples returned with food and urged Jesus to eat, he said, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work” (Jn 4:32). In last Sunday’s gospel Jesus said, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life.” Continuing that theme in today’s gospel, Jesus contrasts the manna that fed the Israelites in the desert and the bread that he gives, which leads people to eternity.  

Let us be clear, then, that the Bible or Jesus are not anti-bread. On the contrary, God fed his people manna in the desert and Jesus feed the hungry during his time. However, if our reflection ends here, then, we have a problem. 

From Bread to Bread of Life

As I said earlier, Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse begins with the multiplication of loaves and ends with the “bread come down from heaven.” Jesus invites his listeners to make this transition from ‘bread’ to ‘bread of life’. Jesus invites us to realize that as important bread is for earthly life, when it comes to life’s central pursuit, we cannot stop at bread. In other words, it is not wrong to seek to be happy, secure, painless, or even wealthy. However, the danger is that we can make these things our central pursuit. We constantly run into the danger making our career, our financial security, or even our own self our central pursuit. What is the point if we gain these things but loose ourselves? 

In today’s gospel Jesus was telling the people of his time and is telling us today that something deeper, more meaningful, more eternal needs to be at the core of our being and of our existence. Today’s scripture is inviting us to bring God and Christ to the very center of our being and existence. Every human person must transition from ‘bread’ to the “bread come down from heaven’. Because if we do not, then we risk losing ourselves and eternity. 

Christ at the Core

From my own experience I know it is easy to lose track of the core of my being. I can become so busy that I lose my self. For this reason, I have made my soul my central focus. 

For me, at my core is a soul striving to be in union with my Creator. My central pursuit is to ensure that this union is not only alive, but strong. All my work can only be the expression of my union with God. But, if I lose this everyday union with God; if my soul cannot find its center in the God who created it; if Christ is not at the core of my being and existence then, no matter how much work I do and no matter how well I do it, I am lost. No matter how busy I get, I strive not to lose track of my soul. 

As you perceive it, what is your central pursuit these days? If you are too busy working so that there is no time to pray or to keep holy the Lord’s Day, or, if your human concerns are overtaking you so that your spirituality gets left on the sidelines, or, if you find yourself empty at the core of your being, then it is time to consciously bring Christ to the center.  

Jesus is the ‘bread come down from heaven.’ Jesus gave his own life so that we can have Him at the core. At every Eucharist, we have the opportunity to place Christ the center. Today, let us not merely celebrate the Eucharist. Today, let us not merely receive Christ. Let us go a step further and bring Christ to the very core of our being and existence. Amen. 

- Fr. Satish Joseph