The bread of life

The Living Bread


Dear friends in Christ, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. My special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one here today, dear friends, every time we come to church, we celebrate our special calling to follow Christ our Lord, we celebrate our special meal that is the bread of life and every time we come to Church we become life giving source for our brothers and sisters in need.
Once a church received a new priest and while he was preaching the first time, he drank a whole pitcher of water. And after Mass a man asked his wife about the new priest and she said, “I like him very much and He is the first windmill that I ever saw that was run by water.
And one day the new priest noticed a man walking out during his homily and after Mass, the man’s wife came to the Father and said, “Father, please forgive me, I was so embarrassed to see my husband walking out during your homily and by the way Father, my husband walks in sleep ever since he was a child”.

In today’s gospel, Jesus continues to tell people, “ I am the bread of life that came down from heaven”. The very words I am are often used by our Lord Jesus Christ to indicate His divine centric human. He says I am the good shepherd, I am the light of world, I am the gate of the sheep and I am the beginning and end and every time He uses the words I am, they indicate His divine centric humanity. Yes, when Moses approached the burning bush and asked the voice, “ who are you Lord?” The voice responded saying, “I am who I am” Go and tell my people I am has sent you to them. Every time Christ uses the words I am, they indicate His divinity and God and Christ are the same.
That is why, when we use the words I am saying I am catholic, I am a follower of Christ or I am a disciple of Christ, it carries certain divine centric strength with them. Yes, every time we say I am catholic, we promise to Christ that we will put our faith into practice, we will act as Christ did loving God with who we are and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Then Christ says I am the bread of life. The food that we eat helps to maintain our health and it strengths us physically but what about our spiritual side. There is a constant struggle between body and soul in every one of us. The tension between body and soul is continuously pulling us into two different directions, what about the loneliness we feel in us. Though we are found in a big crowed, we feel lonely and many of us are so comfortable sitting in front of the TV than coming out and be with others. All these emotional and psychological challenges can be met with only the bread of life. Any one who has Jesus with Him is not alone. This spiritual food helps us to find Christ in others and us. We then find Christ in everything we do and say.

And in today’s gospel, Jesus our Lord says that I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Who can come down from heaven? Holy men and women, saints and angels can come down from heaven. They come down from heaven to help living beings. Those who come down are pure, holy, blameless, imperishable and beyond time and space and when Christ our Lord said that He came down from heaven, people began to criticize Him saying, we know your Father Joseph, your mother Mary and all your relatives, friends and family members and how can this carpenter from Nazareth acting more than a baker from Galilee saying, He came down from heaven. They began to complain, murmur and talk against Him as the people of Israel in the wilderness did. Yes, they went against Moses saying, “ Why did you want to liberate us?” we were suffering in the hand of Pharaoh but still we had enough food. Then Moses prayed to God and God gave them Manna from heaven. Because they were chosen people and God loved them without limit and likewise when people began to murmur, Jesus said, “ you can not come to me unless my Father blesses you, my father chooses you in a special way. The Old Testament says, God knows us even before we were born and called us by our names.
And Christ our Lord says that whoever comes to me, I will feed you with bread of life and as you eat the bread of life, you will have life everlasting. Yes, we will never die. Dear friends, as we enjoy life and have no death, we are here to spread the good news of everlasting life to all. Today so many people easily give up because of hopelessness and not finding any meaning for their lives. They need to hear Christ the living bread. And we should ever remember that if we do not have the bread of life, we are toast. Amen.