TUESDAY, THIRD WEEK OF EASTERTIDE
Acts 7: 51–8:1 Ps 31: 3-8, 17, 21 Jn 6: 30-35
THE SOLE BREAD FOR THE SOUL
In today’s Gospel, the crowd asks Jesus for a sign. They remember the manna in the desert and want proof that He can provide again. Jesus responds by lifting their eyes from the past to the present: “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread.” Then comes the heart of the revelation: “I am the bread of life.” The people are hungry, but they do not yet understand the depth of their hunger. They think of bread that fills the stomach; Jesus speaks of bread that fills the soul. The manna sustained Israel for a day, but it could not give eternal life. Jesus offers Himself as the living Bread who alone satisfies the deepest longing of the human heart.
Saint John of the Cross helps us grasp this mystery. He teaches that the soul is created for God alone, and therefore nothing created can fully satisfy it. When we cling to comforts, achievements, or even spiritual consolations, we remain restless and hungry. In the Ascent of Mount Carmel, John of the Cross insists that only when the soul is purified of lesser attachments can it receive God as its true nourishment.
Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Yet coming to Him and believing in Him does not always feel sweet. Often it leads us through dryness, silence, and the experience of the “dark night.” This is not God abandoning us, but God removing false bread so that we may hunger only for Him. The dark night teaches us to live by faith alone. In the Eucharist, Christ gives us this Bread of Life in a visible and sacramental way. He desires to become our daily nourishment through prayer, surrender, and trust. To feed on Christ is to allow Him to become our strength when everything else fails. Let us ask ourselves: what bread am I seek to satisfy my hunger? May we dare to let go of what does not last, so that Christ alone may be our food, our joy, and our life forever.
Response: Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
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