Catholic Spiritual Living Journal

All who listen with humility and an open heart to the prophets and the Father will be drawn by the Father’s love to Jesus.

John 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."

Prayer:
Give me ears to hear your voice, Lord, and open my heart to receive your word of life. Renew in my soul a spirit of faith to grasp all that you say to me today. Let me embrace it without reserve

Lord, give me faith to believe that you are the Bread of Life, that in your word and in your body are my hope of eternal life. May I never waver in my hope and let me never be parted from you .

1. Faith Is Free for the Pure of Heart.
Sometimes we think that had we only lived in Jesus’ day it would have been so much easier to believe. But this passage makes it clear not only that is faith a gift, but that to believe we must have certain dispositions of the heart. Those who murmur against Jesus are closing themselves off to the gift of faith since the Father does not force our freedom. But all who listen with humility and an open heart to the prophets and the Father will be drawn by the Father’s love to Jesus. Today we need these same dispositions. Without them, what God reveals will seem too difficult to accept or live out. It may even appear absurd to our human way of reasoning. We need to be less sure of ourselves and more dependent on listening to what God is saying to us in order to receive the gift of faith.

2. Bread That Was Less Filling.
The manna which sustained the Israelites in the desert was a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. God fed his people with manna throughout their long journey to the Promised Land. Yet that bread did not give eternal life; indeed the Israelites rebelled and complained and fell into sin again and again. They were looking more for their material comfort and satisfaction in this world than for the hope and joy that comes from being led by God to a new life. In the Eucharist, God feeds us with the Bread of Eternal Life, leading us through the journey of this life to an entirely new life in him. Let us renew our faith in the True Bread that gives us life.


3. I’m Gonna Live Forever.
Eternal life begins now for those who believe that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Through faith in the Eucharist, we enter into a new life that is qualitatively different than a life seeking only pleasure and comfort within the material confines of our limited existence. Ultimately, human life -- even the richest, most successful, and most powerful -- becomes a gray monotony unless there is hope in something new and greater than this existence here below. To live forever is not simply to go on endlessly in time. It is to enter into a new dimension, into a life in God, who is our true fulfillment and peace.

This day thought to Jesus : Lord, give me always this Bread of Life. Open my heart and soul to long for the new life that only you can bring me through the Eucharist. Give me the humility and simplicity to listen to you and to believe that you have the words of eternal life.

Resolution: I will spend time before the Blessed Sacrament to read over all of Chapter Six of St John’s Gospel (Jesus’ discourse on the Bread of Life). I will ask the Holy Spirit to deepen my faith in the Eucharist as the center of my life.