Daily Reflection – 5/8/19
Sacred Scripture
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”( John 6: 35-40)
Reflection
The conflict for the Jews is not so much about Jesus but about their frame of reference, the box they have created for God. Jesus is challenging them to step outside of the established, comfortable, and familiar context they have created for themselves. He invites them to live a new life, a larger life, a life that springs from but is not bound by the past or the context they have created for themselves.
We are not so different from the Jews. We too have our own frames of reference. Sometimes we use our frame of reference to try to contain or control God. Other times we use it to exclude God. The problem is not that we have a frame of reference, but that it originates with us rather than with God.
Often the things we have done and left undone prevent us from eating the bread of life. Sometimes our patterns of thinking, believing, the way we see the world, each other, or ourselves convince us there is no other bread and we should just settle for the same old manna our ancestors ate in the wilderness. Other times our history, fears, anxieties, guilt, regrets, pain, and losses become so firmly established we are deceived into believing that we are not even hungry.
It does not have to be like that. The table of God is set and there is a place for each one of us. We are not destined to eat manna the rest of our lives. Rather, the living bread has come down from heaven to feed each one of us. Every moment of every day God invites us to eat new bread, to step out of the old context into a new way of living and being.
God gives us bread from heaven, knowing that we are hungry. Our conflicts, our restlessness, our deep longings, our desires to love and be loved are hunger pains by which the Father draws us to his Son; the one who said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
The gift of God for the people of God.
Prayer of The Day
Lord, help me to have deeper confidence and trust in you. Despite the real struggles and obstacles in my path, I know that you are always leading me towards you. You are the only one who can fill the depths of my heart.
Daily Note
Easter celebrates the faithfulness of God to his Son Jesus, and the faithfulness of Jesus to all of us. The Lord’s faithfulness encourages us to keep turning back to him, to keep coming to him, even after we have turned away from him. Even when we fail to respond to his coming, he offers himself to us as the bread of life and he continues to promise us that He will always feed us the spiritual nourishment we need to know eternal life.
