Sunday Reflection: We face another Sunday in which the Gospel text focuses on a discussion between Jesus and the crowds about bread which comes from Heaven.  Yes, this is the text about bread.  But it is also a proclamation that Jesus is the Bread of Life.  In John 6:35, we read: Jesus said to them “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

I know that one of the best ways to help is to instill a sense of worth that all are welcome to come to the table-to come to the Bread of Life.  All persons deserve to receive the gift of abundant life.

The truth is everyone-in spite of our life circumstances-needs to have hope.  We need to see options for a better world.  We need to envision a time and place when we are gifted with what God intends for us.  This passage reminds us of that hope, that vision, and that gift.  It brings us into deeper relationship with the one who is the Bread of Life-the one who feeds us over and over again.

We have to open ourselves to receive the gift.  We have to make the effort to come to the table.  We have to believe in the power of the meal, the cup,  and the Word.  We have to believe we are worthy of the feast.

Prayer: Almighty God, your Son Jesus Christ fed the hungry with the bread of life and the word of his kingdom.  Renew your people with your heavenly grace, and in all our weakness sustain us by your true and living bread, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen

(B.A.S. pg 371)