First reading: 1 Kgs. 19:4–8

Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. 

He prayed for death saying: “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. Elijah looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” He got up, ate, and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

Second reading: Eph. 4:30–5:2

Brothers and sisters: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

Gospel: Jn. 6:41–51

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

In other words

by Fr. Emil Lim, SVD (Christ the King Mission Seminary, Quezon City)

A fellow priest and I were once invited by a new acquaintance for dinner in her house. She was excited to have priests as guests. But she seemed more excited to have us try her cooking. “You should taste my beef salpicao,” she beamed with enthusiasm as she served her signature dish. And true enough, that was the best salpicao I have ever had. Since then she is known to us as the salpicao lady.

Jesus identifies himself in many illustrative ways like the vine and the Good Shepherd. But to say, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” Jesus will actually sacramentalize this truth in the Last Supper and by extension in the Eucharist. “Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my body.”

Aside from the fact that the crowd let their prejudices get the better of them, assuming that they got Jesus’ personal background right, it is understandable that they murmur in disbelief that Jesus claims to be bread and one from heaven at that.

To refuse to believe the words of Jesus might be a sin that will “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Second Reading), it might be equally grievous to take our Eucharistic communion for granted. That Jesus is the eternal and divine bread, the bread of angels, the food of the soul, could only be believed by deep faith prompted by God’s grace. “They shall be taught by God.” The mystery of the Eucharist is an amazing Sacrament.

More than just a claim, Jesus made a promise to whoever partakes of this heavenly food will “not die (in eternity) … but will live forever.” All foods have benefits either for nourishment and/or for pleasure. Surely, nothing will surpass the benefit of the bread that gives life everlasting.

Jesus’ talk about the bread of life is bold as it is also true. Jesus could not have left us a better gift than himself in the Eucharist. If only those who believe will also understand how sublime receiving the Lord sacramentally in our mouth, we will probably cry and die without it.