Into the Deep

“Bread of Life”
Between Sunday, July 28 and Sunday, August 25 (Sundays 17 – 21 of Ordinary Time, Cycle B), we are going to go through chapter 6 of John’s Gospel. It could not be a better introduction to this year in which we in the Diocese of Bridgeport will experience various initiatives asking the Lord to grant us a Eucharistic Renewal. The mission of such renewal, following the nationwide eucharistic revival will be “to renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.” Now by chance we will listen to the demanding words of the Lord: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (Jn 6:53). He, who has come to be “The Bread of Life” (vv. 35, 48), will invite each one of us during the following few weeks to rediscover the depth of our faith and its transformative power in our lives. This will happen as we listen, as disciples, to the events and the words of the sixth chapter of John’s gospel. To understand the meaning of it, we need to pay attention to the frame and background of the events that took place then and that is presented to us, almost in passing, at the very beginning: “The Jewish feast of Passover was near” (v. 6). We are in the presence of an event as important as the Passover was for the people of Israel. There is no doubt that chapter 6 of John’s gospel presents a crucial moment for this Gospel in particular, and for the whole life of Jesus Christ in general. Nothing like this chapter marks a before and an after in the ministry of Jesus Christ. If the passage starts with the words “A large crowd followed him” (v. 2), it will conclude with the fact that “many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” (v. 66). Even the apostles seem to falter: “Do you also want to
leave?” (v. 67) What happened in between those two ends? We will see it the next few weeks, but we can anticipate it here: the announcement of the Eucharist. Here we are not only touching the center of our faith, but we will also realize how much “a sign that will be contradicted” (Lk2:34) it is. In that sense, this chapter is extremely important if we consider that, contrary to what the synoptics do, the Fourth Gospel doesn’t describe the institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper.
On the first Sunday we encounter the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (vv. 1-15). It is fundamental to notice the connection existing in this passage between the figure of Moses and Jesus Christ. In the first place, by the fact of feeding the multitude in a desert place, as God did through Moses with the Manna (Ex 16). The Jews will refer to this later in the chapter: “Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” (v.31). Secondly, because of the hope shown by those who were fed that Jesus Christ is the Prophet promised by God to Moses, who would come after him: “I will raise up for them a
prophet like you from among their kindred, and will put my words into the mouth of the prophet; the prophet shall tell them all that I command.” (Dt 18:18). That hope led them to exclaim: “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” (v. 14) Jesus Christ is the new Moses who feeds God’s people. And this miracle prepares the eucharistic discourse of the Bread of Life. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The miracles [the gospels speak of two] of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist.” (#1335)
Blessings,