XVIII^th SUNDAY O. T. YEAR B

In the Philipines, we are used to quote this punch line. Jesus said:”Man does not live by bread alone”. But for us Filipinos, rice will do. Because we Filipinos eat a good amount of rice everyday – starting from breakfast, to lunch, to dinner. Our meals cannot be complete without rice. To eat bread is just a merienda with matching pancit (typical Filipino noodles).

This gospel from St. John 6:24-35 is the first part of Jesus` Bread of Life discourse. Bread in Tagalog is tinapay. Life in Tagalog is buhay. Bread of Life is `Tinapay ng Buhay`. Jesus is the tinapay ng buhay. The meaning of this word is fulfillment, satisfaction, life-giving strength, and life-giving spirit. This refers to Jesus himself, in the gospel story. I always keep in mind the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola from his spiritual exercises that he made into song;

 Take and receive, O Lord, my liberty;

Take all my will, my mind, my memory

All things I hold and all I own are yours;

Yours is the gift, to you I all resign.

 Do thou direct and govern all and sway,

Do what Thou wilt, command I obey,

Only thy grace, Thy love, on me bestow,

These make me rich, all else will I forego.

 All these thoughts, prayers of his, summarise and capture the concept of the Tinapay ng Buhay, who is Jesus himself, the source of all our strength and our will. At the end of this gospel passage, the crowd asked Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always”. Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst”.

 The request of the crowd to Jesus is the desire of the people to get this bread with continuous, on-going insistence. It is a desire of trust. The answer of Jesus, his very word is very appealing, fascinating and certain. We can rest secure. However, many Christians are not quite convinced by this very word of Jesus. They become skeptical. Others may have failed to respond to this. It is because this bread of life goes beyond our own worldly and literal understanding.

 I remember some time ago, a former classmate of mine in college sent me a mail on facebook and said, “Father, I have lost my faith. To attend Mass does not make sense to me anymore”. According to her, she lost her faith. On the other hand, she felt upset and dismayed that this situation had happened to her. She was looking for an answer. She lost the enthusiasm, the interest, the conviction of what she used to feel and of what she used to believe.

 This woman looked like one of the crowd who was asking Jesus: “Sir, give us this bread always”. She forgot that God had given her intelligence and many achievements. She had two beautiful kids, a loving husband, a happy family and a successful career. What more did she want in life?

 I, a young missionary and a newly ordained priest, oftentimes may be in a similar condition to the people in that crowd. Seeing all the struggles and the difficulties of the people in this country everyday - the conditions of poverty, the sickness, the confusion, the disturbances, the palavers we encounter with them - I say to God: “ Give me, too, this bread always so that I may have strength and a life-giving spirit”. Yes, they are the people, whom we are called to serve, to love and to be with.

 I know how difficult it is to be in the mission. And also how difficult it is to live life to the fullest. That is why we always need Christ, the true bread that comes down from heaven. The success in life and the achievements are a gift from the Lord. We only need to be grateful and to humbly recognize his presence in us. In Him alone is our liberty, our hope, our refuge and our strength. He is the true bread that we need every day that will satisfy our deepest hunger and thirst.