Whoever Comes To Me Will Never Hunger (John 6:35)

"I am the bread of life." (John 6:35)

The air where you sit right now is supercharged with electronic messages flooding past you from radio and television stations. You cannot see them, but your television and smart phone prove that these supersonic waves exist. If we say that 'seeing is believing', then surely we may have to think again.

It is one thing to 'not see and yet believe' and another 'to see and still not believe. In today's gospel Jesus tells the Jews, "you can see me and still you do not believe." They saw Jesus in person, they witnessed the wonders he performed, changing water into wine, the multiplication of loaves, and even heard the Baptizer testifying to Him as the Son of God and yet they did not believe in Jesus.

They had the Giver of Life in their midst and they failed to recognize who he really was. What a tragedy! The Bread of Life was there among them and they chose not to partake of it. They physically came to Jesus, but spiritually they couldn’t accept him. The same happens with us too, day after day week after week, we come to Church and receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, and then we go out and live lives unworthy of our Christian calling. We gossip, pass judgments, accuse, abuse and fight with one another. What Christ-less lives we live. We fail to comprehend that we are the living tabernacles of the 'Bread of Life'. We are called to be holy! Every time we receive the Holy Eucharist, Christ comes to live in us. To those who receive him, Jesus says, "You shall not change me into your own substance. Instead you shall be changed into me."

As we approach the Eucharist, let us go beyond physical sights and experience the Real Presence of Jesus. Let Jesus assimilate us and transform us into himself. Let us be nourished by the ‘Bread of Life’ and may our thirst be quenched by believing in the eternal life he has promised. "For, this is the will of the Father that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and He shall raise them on the last day." Blessed are we who have not seen and yet believe!

"Jesus, King of glory, our eternal life, when you appear on the last day, may we appear with you and share your glory."