Cycle B - Year I:  

1 August 2021: Eighteen Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15

Second Reading:   Ephesians 4:17, 20-24

Gospel:  Please Read  John 6:24-35 

"in search of God...!

There is a story of a man earnestl searching for God.... The man whispered, "God, speak to me"... and a meadow lark sang; but the man did not hear.  So the man yelled, "God, speak to me!".... and the thunder rolled across the sky; but the man did not listen.  The man looked around and said, "God, let me see you,"... and a star shined brightly; but the man did not see.  And the man shouted, "God, show me a miracle!"...  and a life was born; but the man did not notice.  So the man cried out in despair, "Touch me, God, and let me know You are here,"... whereupon, God reached down and touched the man..... But the man brushed the butterfly away, and walked on.

The above short anecdote tells us that God is always around us in the little and simple things that we perhaps take for granted.  Often we search for Him in the spectacular, like the dancing sun perhaps.

The Gospel narrative this Sunday is about the crowd searching for our Lord Jesus Christ.  Today's event happened after the miracle of the multiplication of bread. The people realize that Jesus was not only a healer of the sick and a great preacher, He can also satisfy the peoples' temporal needs for food when our Lord fed the multitude in the miracle of the five loaves and two fish.  The crow must be thinking that Jesus is all they need for daily living.

Jesus saw through their motivation and intention, and said to them: "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."  (Jn 6:26-27).  The rest of the Gospel reading is the beginning of Jesus' discourse on Himself as the Bread of Life.

People in our generation continue to seek Jesus for various reasons.  It seems nothing has really changed in our reason for seeking Him since the apostolic times.  Often we seek Him to satisfy our hunger of the body and not for that which satisfies the heart and soul.  Of course, there is nothing wrong with satisfying our physical needs; we need to in order to survive. Our Lord Himself has shown His concern for our physical well-being in the miracle of the multiplication of bread to feed the multitude following Him. But we must not stop there and search for that which can satisfy our spiritual hunger in our heart and soul -- the hunger for truth, for life, and for love.

Along with our physical hunger, there is within each of us another hunger, a more basic hunger in fact, which cannot be satisfied by ordinary food.  And that is our hunger for life, a hunger for eternity, our nostalgia for God Himself.  And so the sign of the manna in the time of Moses was really a proclamation of the coming of Christ who was to satisfy our hunger for eternity by our Lord Himself becoming the "Living Bread" that "gives life to the world."

Now, to satisfy our spiritual hunger, our Lord spoke about accomplishing the "works of God" by believing in Him as God's Son who was sent into the world.  Then Jesus made the claim that only God can make:  "I am the Bread of Life."  This bread that Jesus offers is none else that the very life of God, the true bread which can truly satisfy the hunger in our heart.

The Bread which Jesus offers us sustains us not only in our journey to the heavenly paradise but gives us abundant supernatural life of God which sustains us both now and for all eternity. So then, when we receive our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass we unite ourselves to our Lord Jesus Christ who makes us share in His body and blood and partakers of His divine life as well.

Let us end our reflection in the words of St. Augustine of Hippo: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You." Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!