Jesus is the Bread of Life!

Conversations with families where I work are opportunities for me to find out how the Church can help their family in their journey of faith and of deepening their relationship with our Lord.  One of the questions I usually ask is if they participate in the Mass? More times than I like to admit the answer is “Honestly, we don’t come to Mass regularly” or “I used to go to Mass with my family when I was young, but I don’t really go anymore”.

In these moments my heart is pained as I am reminded of that time in my life when I too was indifferent to my faith. It was a time that I thought my faith in God was enough. Thankfully, the Church continued to love me and welcome me each time (though sporadically) I arrived at Mass. Those years of being indifferent to my faith caused me to have a deep thirst for something I couldn’t put my finger on.  God never stopped reaching out to me. I realized eventually that my indifference was affected by the fact that I had stopped listening to God’s word. My focus had turned to “me” and not on God.  Once I was back at Mass, slowly and gently, God allowed me to flourish as I focused on a friendship with his Son, Jesus Christ. It became a meaningful relationship that I immediately realized I couldn’t live without. This was pure Grace, nothing I deserved or that I could have done on my own. God is so good and merciful.

The most important revelation for me about why Mass was so important was coming to understand that the Eucharist is not a what, but a who.  The Eucharist is Jesus himself. God offered himself as the sacrificial lamb and at Mass we give thanks for his mercy on us.  I was able to accept the mystery of true Love through God’s grace. The Word became flesh so that God could leave us with himself as Eucharist in order to sustain us until the end of time.

Pope Frances celebrates the Mass

 

Jesus gathered and formed a Church. He personally asked people to follow him.  His early group of followers  (men and women) became “fishers of men”. Jesus showed them how to enter into a true conversion of heart experience.  Faith is not based on obedience to God’s law alone; faith is about having and nurturing a personal relationship with our loving God. This is what God desires.

The Church formed in such a way that she feeds us with Word and with Eucharist. Jesus IS the Bread of Life (Gospel of John). What the Church did in those beginning years is essentially very similar to what we still do today in our Mass. We hear God’s Word and we share in Holy Eucharist. At Mass we enter into the mystery of God’s plan of salvation in a uniquely intimate way. This is why Mass not just an ordinary praise and worship experience or just an ordinary communal gathering.

I learned to see the logic of the Eucharist is dependent on a literal understanding of what Jesus is telling us. He is true food.  In his life Jesus did many things, he fed people physically, he healed them of physical ailments, many were witnesses to his miraculous healings and he constantly reminded everyone that the Kingdom of God was at hand. Some of these things were hard for some people to hear, but the most difficulty they had was when Jesus stated that he was also feeding them spiritually because he is the Bread of Life, that he himself was the source of eternal life.

             “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”(Jn 47-48) 

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (Jn 6: 51)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you!” (Jn 6: 53)

St. John recorded what Jesus said. In his writings we see that what Jesus said created huge problems for those hearing him in his time; still today this is where many of us struggle.  Jesus asks people to trust him when he says he is the Bread of life-the source of eternal life. Yes, this is a difficult thing for many of us to believe. As I continue to work with Catholic families, I believe that God is humbly reminding me of who I was many years ago. I pray that I can share with each family that God withholds nothing from us. God is pure gift. God has already has chosen us, we just need to say “I want to believe in you Lord, for you alone have the words of eternal life!”

I pray that we as Catholics may faithfully come to Mass each Sunday to deepen our friendship with Him WHO is the Eucharist.