True Bread from Heaven

Hello Friends,

Early last year, I visited Israel and was fascinated by the area around the scene in John’s Gospel that occurred just before today’s reading. It is John’s account of the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. Early Christians identified Tabgha as the place where Jesus worked the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. On my visit to Tabgha, I got carried away with the archaeological history of the area and found myself reading the gospel account like a history book with maps and diagrams. I wandered out of the pilgrimage mindset and into Indiana Jones territory for a moment. Fortunately, during the visit, we also attended Mass, and during the Mass, my attention was refocused to walk prayerfully in the footsteps of our Lord. This experience of losing myself in the physical characteristics of the land of Israel gave me some empathy for the crowd that followed Jesus to Capernaum but did not recognize His divinity.

In today’s reading, the crowd that pursued Jesus into Capernaum had just witnessed the multiplication of the loaves the day before, but they still asked Jesus for a sign to believe. Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” (Jn 6:29). But they still asked Jesus for a sign, “then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you?” (Jn 6:30). Jesus is teaching the crowd about who he is and explaining what they should seek — “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life” (Jn 6:27). It is easy to read this from our current day view and ask, why the crowd didn’t recognize the divinity of Jesus after witnessing the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, but it is more fruitful to ask the Lord to help us increase our faith today. We modern people have the benefit of knowing the full story of Jesus and his resurrection from Scripture, and through the Sacraments, we have the two-thousand year history of the resurrected Jesus acting in our world. Just as he did in Capernaum, our Lord is asking us today to have faith and to know him. We desire to respond with — I believe.
​
The Catechism reminds us that, “Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation” (CCC, no. 161). As the discourse on the bread of life continues in the Gospel of John, many disciples will have their faith challenged and will turn away from Jesus. As faithful Catholics, we desire to strengthen our faith so we can respond like Peter, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  

We have to come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:68-69). May our faith grow by the power of the Holy Spirit and our seeking to understand the word of God.


Siempre Adelante,


Manuel Leon
​Business Manager 

---