XIX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
THE EUCHARIST: BREAD THAT GIVES STRENGTH
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jiménez
We continue on our journey of faith and this Sunday’s readings lead us to reflect on the Eucharist: strength for the journey. Last Sunday, the emphasis was the Eucharist, the bread of life.
In the first reading, from the first Book of Kings, we hear the story of the Prophet Elijah, how he was tired and disappointed: “he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death saying: ‘This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers’” (1 Kings 19: 4). All prophetic vocations lived faithfully carried with them persecution. The prophet Elijah experienced the harshness of his vocation and mission. To get through the hard times in his life, he needed to return to the source, to Horeb, the mountain where God meets him. So the bread that he ate gave him strength, and led him to the source of his mission, to meet again with God. There, on the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah received light and strength for his arduous task that awaited him.
We continue reading the Gospel of John, chapter 6, and again reflect on the Eucharist. In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ humanity appears constantly, which made it difficult for the Jews to follow, believe and accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. “The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven’, and they said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?’” (Jn 6: 41-42a) The beginning of the same Gospel of John reminds us the Word becomes Flesh (history of the Incarnation). Only those who are able to enter the reflection on the Incarnation can know the truth of Jesus. But this shows how difficult it is to understand Jesus and how necessary it is to be open to his word. However, whether we understand him or not, we could not accuse Jesus of sin or trying to take a position that did not belong to him, because “He is the bread that came down from heaven”.
“Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died” (Jn 6: 49). This is the greatest proof that manna did not came from heaven, because in heaven there is no death. But Jesus says: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6: 50-51). The sign that He came down from heaven is He offers a bread, Himself, who is the source of life. It is not only a living bread, but a bread giving life.
Life and resurrection are global promises to the whole human being. And this promise of life is unlimited, not only for the people of Israel, but for the whole world. Saint John has passed from the contemplation of Jesus as Bread of Wisdom to present Jesus as the Eucharist-Bread, namely, Bread of Hope and Bread of eternal life.
In this world, where death is everywhere: the envy, discord, and difficulties we encounter in our life, as well as the difficulties and contradictions for living our faith; let us ask Jesus, true Bread to strengthen us as God strengthened the prophet Elijah. The promise of eternal life will be in each of us. May the experience of our Christian hope help the world to change and believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.