John 6:41-51
A Slice of Heaven
by Rev. Jack Peterson, YA
Reprinted with permission of "The Arlington Catholic Herald"

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John wrote to show that Christ was
the Messiah, the Divine Son of God.

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?  Do we not know his father and mother?  Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring among yourselves.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.  It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God.

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.  Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.  I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will life forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

Bread is a staple of diets in many countries and cultures, including France.  The mere thought of a French baguette makes me start to salivate.  Even more so is the thought of a pain au chocolate.  These French pastries are made from a similar dough as croissants, wrapped around two batons of delicious, dark chocolate.  The are a slice of heaven, pun intended.

It is no surprise that Jesus calls himself the "Bread of Life."  He greatly desires to be essential to our daily, spiritual diet.  He wants to nourish our souls with his presence, love, truth and mercy as we journey through this messy life to heaven.  Jesus demonstrates that our soul needs spiritual nourishment as much as our bodies need physical nourishment.

Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, we have been tempted to neglect feeding our souls.  The demon of pride finds it easy to take over our mind and will and convince us that we do not need God for our existence, our happiness or our sense of purpose.  The truth is that we were made to know, love and serve God so as to live in union with the Blessed Trinity forever in heaven.  Can you imagine never having a piece of bread in you life?

Jesus takes the analogy of bread to another, unexpected level.  I had the privilege of going in July on a vacation to celebrate 35 years of priesthood with three classmates from the seminary.  One of our classmates is an excellent cook.   I was quite shocked with how much time, attention, experience, planning and passion went into preparing a few of our meals on that vacation.  The personal investment was quite remarkable.  Again, Jesus takes the bread analogy to a whole new level.  Jesus does not only wish to provide us with bread for our nourishment; he does not simply invent all kinds of time, attention and skill into setting a delightful table for us; rather, Jesus wants to be our nourishment.  His love is so over-the-top that he wants to feed us with his very self: "he bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."  Love does such things.

Jesus does not stop there.  He keeps shocking us with his crazy love.  This bread, his flesh, is not simply given to help us manage our 70-or 80 years on this earth.  This bread provides nourishment that leads us to life eternal.

Our Old Testament  reading today hints at this gift. The great prophet Elijah is exhausted - physically and spiritually.  He prays, "This is enough, O Lord!"  and cries out to God stating that he does not feel like he can go on.  The Lord then provides him with two meals of a heath cake (I think this is Aramaic for pain au chocolat) and a jug of water.  This nourishment from God's hand provides all that he needs to walk for 40 days and 40 nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

Through the Eucharist, Our Precious Lord miraculously nourishes us with bread that enables us to do something completely impossible on our own - to journey up the mountain to God's home in heaven.  "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this read will live forever.  This is a remarkable meal.

My dear fellow pilgrims, let me finish with a few question.  Do I grasp the depth of love in the heart of Christ given to us in the Eucharist?  Do I comprehend the immensity of the gift placed on the table of the altar at Maas where Jesus feeds us with his very self?  Do I desire to respond in a fitting way to his generosity by falling more deeply in love with Christ in the Eucharist and learning to love my neighbor as Christ has loved me?