18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B
Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” With these words, Jesus in today’s gospel reading from the holy Gospel according to John chapter 6, verse 24 to 35 expresses His disappointment with the Jews who sought Him for the wrong reasons, which was to satisfy their earthly desires, their physical hunger, instead of paying attention to the eternal food that endures for eternal life.
This attitude of the crowd in today’s gospel reading seems to be like ours today. We answer the name Christians just to belong to a religion, but we lack faith in God. We just show up for Mass on Sundays to fulfill our Sunday obligations, but their seems to be no change in our spiritual lives. We assist or participate in various ministries in the Church just to show off ourselves, our talents or to seek the praise and applause of others, yet nothing changes in our spirituality or our relationship with God. We receive communion at Mass to please people instead of God, and we even do so when we are not in the state of grace. Jesus definitely will tell us like He told the crowd today, that we are here for the wrongs reasons, rather we need to sincerely, devoutly and wholeheartedly seek Him in the Holy Eucharist.
Last Sunday’s readings all talked about the Eucharist and its significance and importance in our lives as Christians. As we were reminded, the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch. The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit. We were also reminded of what the Eucharist does in our lives. The Eucharist unites us to the person of Christ through his humanity, and at the same time unites us to his divinity. The Eucharist increases our union with the Lord, forgives us our venial sins, preserves us from grave sins, strengthens the bonds of charity between us and Christ, and reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.
From these explanations, we can see how important the Eucharist is in our lives as Christians. It is because of Its importance that the Eucharist is emphasized in Old Testament as we heard in today’s first reading from the Book of Exodus chapter 16, verse 2 to 4, and 12 to 15, when God manifested his Providence by sending down manna from heaven to feed the Israelites in the desert. Manna here is a symbol and figure of the Holy Eucharist.
It is also because of the importance of the Eucharist that in today’s gospel reading, Jesus begins His lengthy discourse on the Eucharist after He shows His disappointment in the crowd who were looking for Him for the wrong reasons, to satisfy their hunger. He presents to the crowd the ineffable treasure of the Holy Eucharist stating, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” These words of Jesus to the crowd shows that the Eucharist is not just a material object, It flows into deed and action. The Eucharist is in fact the act of sharing in the bread of life, and participating in the life of Christ Himself. Hence, Jesus is teaching us that: He is truly God’s gift to us and not just material bread. And that we need to have faith in Him and in His teaching. Is Jesus truly God’s gift to us? Do we really have faith in Him and in His teachings? If the Eucharist is of such great importance and value as It gives us true spiritual life, spiritual healing, spiritual health, and spiritual strength, how do we prepare ourselves to receive it? How has It transformed our lives?
My dear friends, the Eucharist directs us towards an intimate union with Christ through communion. To receive the Body of Christ in communion is to receive Christ Himself who has offered Himself for us. The Eucharist is the heart and the summit of the Church's life, for in it Christ associates His Church and all her members with His sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once for all on the cross to His Father; by this sacrifice, He pours out the graces of salvation on His Body which is the Church. So let us sincerely and truly participate actively in the Eucharistic celebration so as to receive that food that never perishes, but endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man has given us.
