Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
«‘Sir, give us this bread always’. ‘I am the bread of life’»
Today, we can appreciate different behaviors in the people looking for Jesus: some have eaten the material bread while others are requesting a miraculous sign when the Lord has just made a huge one; still, others, have eagerly run to meet him to make a spiritual communion —in good faith we could say—: “Sir, give us this bread always” (Jn 6:34).
Jesus must have been very pleased with their efforts to seek and follow Him. He was teaching them all while speaking to them in different ways. To some of them, he says: “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life” (Jn 6:27). And those who ask: “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” (Jn 6:28) will receive in that Capernaum synagogue a specific advice, where the Lord promises them the Holy Communion: “Believe.”
You and I, who are trying to immerse ourselves in the pages of this Gospel, do we see our attitude reflected therein? While trying to revive this scene: which are the most pointed expressions for us? Are we persistent enough in our efforts to find Jesus after the many gifts, doctrine, examples and lessons we have received from Him? Do we know how to make a good spiritual communion? ‘Lord, give us always this bread, that satiates our hunger’?
The best shortcut to find Jesus is through Mary. She is the Mother of the Family that dispenses the white bread for the children in the warmth of the paternal home. The Mother of the Church that wants to feed her children so that they may grow strong, be happy, may carry out a blessed task and be communicative. St. Ambrose, in his work “On the mysteries”, writes: “And the Sacrament we carry out is the body born of the Virgin Mary. Can you request the nature's order in the body of Christ, when Jesus was conceived by Mary above every natural law?”
The Church, mother and teacher, teaches us that the Holy Eucharist is a “sacrament of piety, sign of unity, bond of charity, the paschal banquet "in which Christ is received, the soul is filled with grace and we are given a pledge of the glory that is to be ours” (II Vatican Council).