Bread of Life John 6

Monday, 19th April 2010
3rd Week of Easter
John 6:24-29



After Jesus had fed the five thousand, the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’

Jesus answered: ‘In all truth I tell you, you are looking for me not because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat. Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’

Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to carry out God's work?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is carrying out God's work: you must believe in the one he has sent.’




Tuesday, 20th April 2010
3rd Week of Easter
John 6:30-35



The people said to Jesus, ‘What sign will you yourself do, the sight of which will make us believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

Jesus answered them: ‘In all truth I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is the bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

‘Sir,’ they said, ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered them: ‘I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst.’





Wednesday, 21st April 2010
3rd Week of Easter
John 6:35-40


Jesus said to the crowd, ‘I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst. But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe. Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me, because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me.

‘Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but that I should raise it up on the last day. It is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day.’








This is what I have come to teach you and to give you: the juice, the
air of the Law and of the Prophets, to give blood and breath back
to your souls dying from inanition and asphyxia. You are like
children whom a disease has made unable to tell what can nourish
them. You have plenty food in front of you, but you do not know
that it must be eaten to be changed into something vital, that is,
that it must really become part of us, through pure generous
loyalty to the Law of the Lord, Who spoke to Moses and the Prophets
on behalf of all of you. It is your duty, therefore, to come to Me to
receive the air and juice of eternal Life. But that duty presupposes
faith in you.



Because if one has no faith, one cannot believe My
words, and if one does not believe, one cannot come to Me and say:
"Give me the true bread". And if you do not have the true bread,
you cannot work the deeds of God, because you are unable to do
them. So in order to be nourished by God and to work the deeds of
God, you must do the basic work, which is: to believe in Him
Whom God sent.»



^But what miracles do You work that we may believe that You
have been sent by God and we may see the seal of God upon You?
What do You do, which the Prophets have not .already done,
although in a more modest form? Nay, Moses exceeded You,
because he fed our ancestors with wonderful food not once, but for
forty years. It is in fact written that our forefathers ate manna in
the desert for forty years, and it is written that Moses gave them
the bread of heaven to eat, as he was able to do so.»



«You are wrong. Not Moses but the Lord was able to do so. And
in Exodus we read: "Now I will rain down bread from the heavens.
Let the people go out and gather what is sufficient for each day, so
that I may test whether the people will follow My law or not. And
on the sixth day they will gather twice as much, out of respect for
the seventh day, which is the Sabbath". And the Hebrews every
morning saw the desert become covered with that "delicate thing
that resembles what is pounded in a mortar and is like hoarfrost
and coriander seed and has the lovely taste of flour kneaded with
honey". So it was not Moses but God who supplied manna. God
can do everything. He can punish and bless. He can grant and take
away. And I tell you that He always prefers to bless and grant
rather than punish and take away.



God, as the Book of Wisdom states, out of love for Moses — who,
according to Ecclesiasticus, "was beloved by God and men, of
blessed memory, and was made by God the equal of the holy ones
in glory, and strong to the terror of his enemies, and was able to
work miracles and stop them, and was raised high in the respect of
kings, and was His minister before the people, and saw the glory
of God and heard the voice of the Most High, and was the guardian
of the precepts and of the Law of life and science" — God, I was
saying, out of love for Moses, nourished His people with the bread
of angels and from heaven untiringly sent them bread already
prepared, containing every delight, satisfying every taste.



And remember what Wisdom says — as it came from heaven, from God,
and demonstrated His sweetness towards His children, it tasted as
each eater wished and produced the effects that each person
wanted, and was thus useful to babies, whose stomachs are still
delicate, and to adults enjoying good appetite and healthy diges-
tions, and to delicate girls and to decrepit old people. And, to
testify that it was not the work of man, it overturned the laws of
elements, and the mysterious bread, which at sunrise melted like
frost, endured fire. Or rather — it is still Wisdom speaking — fire
forgot its own nature out of respect for the work of God, its
Creator, and for the needs of the just people of God, so that, while
it burns to torture, in this case it became mild to assist those who
confided in God. Thus, by transforming itself in many ways, it
served the grace of the Lord, nourishing everyone, according to the
will of those who prayed the Eternal Father, so that the beloved
children might learn that it is not the reproduction of fruit which
nourishes men, but it is the word of the Lord that preserves those
who believe in God. In fact it did not consume the sweet manna, as
it was able to do, not even when it flared, whereas the mild morn-
ing sunshine could melt it, so that men should learn and remember
that the gifts of God are to be sought from the very beginning of
the day and of life, and that one must anticipate Light to receive
them, and rise and pray the Eternal Father at daybreak.



That is what manna taught the Hebrews. And I am reminding
you because that duty still lasts and will last for ever. Seek the
Lord and His celestial gifts without idling until the late hours of
day or of life. Rise and praise Him before the rising sun does, and
feed on His word, which consecrates, preserves and leads to True
life. It was not Moses who gave you the bread of Heaven, but it
was God the Father, and now I solemnly tell you that it is My
Father Who gives you the true Bread, the new Bread, the eternal
Bread, which descends from Heaven, the Bread of mercy, the
Bread of Life, the Bread that gives Life to the world, the Bread
that satisfies every hunger and removes all languor, the Bread
that gives eternal Life and eternal joy to those who eat it.»



^Give us some of that bread, Lord, and we shall not die.»



«You will die as every man dies, but you will rise to eternal Life,
^ you feed holily on that Bread, because those who eat it, become
incorruptible. With regard to giving it, it will be given to those
who ask My Father for it with pure hearts, upright intentions and
charity. That is why I taught you to say: "Give us our daily
Bread". But those who eat it unworthily, will become swarms of
infernal worms, like the baskets of manna kept contrary to in-
structions received. And the Bread of health and life will become
conviction and death for them. Because the greatest sacrilege will be
committed by those who place that Bread on a corrupt foul spiritual
table and profane it by mixing it with the sink of their incurable
passions. It would have been better if they had never taken it!»

«But where is that Bread? How can one find it? What is its name?»



«I am the Bread of Life. You will find it in Me. Its name is Jesus.

He who comes to Me will never be hungry again, and he who I
believes in Me will never be thirsty again, because celestial rivers i
will flow into him quenching all material ardour. I have already i
told you. And you have known Me by now. And yet you do not believe Me.

You cannot believe that everything is in Me. And yet it |
is so. All the treasures of God are in Me. And everything pertain- I
ing to the earth has been given to Me; thus the glorious Heavens i
and the militant earth are united in Me and even the expiating and
expecting mass of those who died in the grace of God are in Me,
because all power has been given to Me and is in Me.



And I tell you:everything the Father gives Me, will come to Me.
And I will not reject
those who come to Me, because I descended from Heaven not to '|
do My will, but the will of Him Who sent Me. And this is the will of I
My Father, of the Father Who sent Me: that I may lose not even one
of those He gave Me, but I may raise them from death on the last
day. Now the will of the Father Who sent Me is that whoever
knows the Son and believes in Him, will have eternal Life and I
may raise him on the Last Day, seeing that he is nourished with
faith in Me and is signed with My seal.»



People begin to grumble both inside and outside the ^synagogue
because of Jesus' new hardy words. And the Master, after taking
- breath, looks with ecstatically shining eyes towards the people
who are grumbling more loudly, that is towards the groups in
which there are some Judaeans. He resumes speaking.



«Why are you grumbling among yourselves? Yes, I am the Son of
Mary of Nazareth, the daughter of Joachim of the house of David,
a virgin consecrated in the Temple and then married to Joseph of
Jacob, of the house of David. Many of you have known the just
parents of Joseph, a royal carpenter, and those of Mary, the virgin
heiress of the royal stock. And you thus say: "How can He say that
He descended from Heaven?", and you become doubtful. |

I remind you of the Prophets who prophesied the Incarnation of|
the Word. And I remind you that it is a dogma, more for us
Israelites than for any other people, that He, Whose name we dare
not mention, could not become Flesh according to the laws of
mankind, and an impoverished mankind at that.



The Most Pure Uncreated One, if He humiliated Himself by becoming Man for the sake of man, could but choose the womb of a Virgin purer than
lilies to clothe His Divinity with Flesh.



The Bread that descended from Heaven in the days of Moses,
was placed in the gold Ark, which supported the Mercy Seat and was
watched over by Cherubim,behind the veils of the Tabernacle.
And the Word of God was with the Bread.



And it was right that it should be so, because the deepest
respect is to be paid to the gifts of God and to the tables of His
most holy Word. So what will God have prepared for His own Word and
for the true Bread that has come from Heaven? A more immaculate
and precious Ark than the gold one, to support the precious Mercy
Seat of His pure will to immolate Himself, watched over by the
cherubim of God, veiled by virginal purity, by perfect humility,
sublime charity and all the most holy virtues.



So? Do you not understand yet that My Paternity is in Heaven,
and that, consequently, I come from there? Yes, I descended from
Heaven to fulfil the decree of My Father, the decree of salvation of
men, according to what He promised at the same moment of con-
demnation, and He repeated to Patriarchs and Prophets. And that
is faith. And faith is given by God to souls of good will. No one,
therefore, can come to Me, unless My Father leads him to Me, as
although He sees that he is in darkness, He knows that he is crav-
ing for light. It is written in the Prophets: "They will be all taught.
by God". So, that was decided. It is God Who instructs them where
to go to be taught by God. Therefore, whoever has heard God
speak in the depth of his righteous soul, has learned from the
Father to come to Me.»



«And who has ever heard God or seen His Face?» ask many who
begin to show signs of irritation and scandal. And they conclude:

«You are either raving or You are a day-dreamer.»



«No one has seen God except Him Who came from God: He has

seen the Father. And I am He.


And now listen to the Creed of future Life, without which no
one can be saved.



I solemnly tell you that he who believes in Me has eternal Life. I
solemnly tell you that I am the Bread of eternal Life.



Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they died. Because
manna was a holy but temporary food and gave life as was re-
quired to reach the Land Promised by God to His people. But the
Manna Which I am, will have no limit of time or power. It is not on-
ly celestial, but divine and produces what is divine: the incorrupt-
ibility and immortality of what God created to His image and
likeness. It will not last forty days, forty months, forty years, for-
ty centuries. But it will last until the end of Time and will be given
to all those who hunger for what is holy and pleasing to the Lord,
Who will rejoice at giving Himself incommensurably to men, for
whom He became incarnate, that they may have the Life which
does not die.



I can give Myself, I can transubstantiate for the sake of men, so
that the bread may become Flesh and the Flesh may become
Bread, for the spiritual hunger of men, who without that Food
would die of starvation and spiritual diseases. But if one eats this
Bread with justice, one will live for ever. The bread which I will
give is My Body sacrificed for the Life of the world, is My Love
spread in the houses of God, so that all loving or unhappy souls
may come to the Table of the Lord, and may find solace to their
need to be united to God and relief to their sorrows.»



«But how can You give us Your flesh to eat? Who do You think
we are? Blood-thirsty beasts? Savages? Murderers? Blood and
crime disgust us.»



«I tell you solemnly that man is very often more cruel than
beasts, that sin makes men savages, that pride makes them blood-
thirsty murderers and that blood and crime will not disgust all the
people present here. And also in future man will be the same,
because Satan, sensuality and pride make him brutal. Man
therefore with greater care must rid himself of the dreadful germs
through the infusion of the Holy One.



I tell you solemnly that if
you do not eat the Flesh of the Son of man and you do not drink
His Blood, you will not have Life in you. He who eats My Flesh
worthily and drinks My Blood, has eternal Life and I will raise
him up on the Last Day. For My Flesh is real Food and My Blood is
real Drink. He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood lives in
Me, and I live in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live for
the Father, so whoever eats Me will live also for Me and will go
where I send him, and will do what I want, and will live austerely,
as a man, and as ardently as a Seraph, and will be holy, because in
order to be able to feed on My Flesh and My Blood, he will abstain
from sin and will live ascending and finish his ascent at the feet of
the Eternal Father.»

.

^He is mad! Who can live like that? In our religion only the
priest is to be purified to offer the victim. He wants to make us vic-
tims of His madness. His doctrine is too painful and his language
too hard! Who can listen to Him and practise what He says?»
whisper the people present and many are disciples known as such.



The crowds disperse making their comments. And when the
Master is alone in the synagogue with His most faithful followers,
the number of disciples has diminished considerably. I cannot
count them, but I would say that, more or less, they are about one
hundred. So there must have been a remarkable defection also in
the group of the old disciples by now at the service of God. Among
those left there are the apostles, John the priest and John the
scribe, Stephen, Hermas, Timoneus, Ermasteus, Agapo, Joseph,
Solomon, Abel of Bethlehem of Galilee, and Abel the leper of
Korazim, with his friend Samuel, Elias (the one who did not bury
his father to follow Jesus), Philip of Arbela, Aser and Ishmael of
Nazareth, and some whose names I do not know. They are speak-
ing to one another in low voices commenting on the defection of
the others and the words of Jesus, Who with folded arms is leaning
against a high lectern.



«Are you scandalised at what I told you? And if I told you that
one day you will see the Son of man ascend to Heaven where He
was before, and sit beside His Father? What have you understood,
assimilated and believed so far? And how have you heard and
assimilated? Only through your humanity? It is the spirit that
gives life and is important.



The flesh is of no avail. My words are
spirit and life, and they are to be heard and understood through
the spirit to have life. But there are many among you whose spirits
are dead because they are without faith. Many of you do not really
believe. And they are staying with Me in vain. They will not
receive Life, but Death. Because they are staying with Me, as I said
at the beginning, either out of curiosity, or for human pleasure, or
worse still, for more worthless purposes. They have not been led
here by My Father, as a reward to their good will, but by Satan.


Nobody can really come to Me, unless it is granted to him by My
Father. You may go, you who find it difficult to remain here,
because you are ashamed, from a human point of view, to leave
Me, but you are more ashamed to stay at the service of One Who
seems "mad and hard" to you. Go. It is better for you to be far
away, than be here and do harm.»



Many of the disciples withdraw, among them there is John, the
scribe, Marcus, -the possessed Gerasene, who was cured by Jesus
and the devils possessing him were sent into pigs. The good
disciples consult with one another and run after their faithless
companions endeavouring to stop them.



^In the synagogue there is only Jesus with the chief ,of the
synagogue and the apostles... . .



Jesus turns towards the twelve apostles, who are deeply hu-
miliated and are standing in a comer and says to them: «Do you
want to go as well?» He says so without bitterness and without
sadness, but very seriously.



Peter replies with sorrowful transport: «Lord, where can we go?
To whom? You are our life and our love. You alone have words of
eternal Life. We know that You are the Christ, the Son of God. If
You wish, send us away. But we will not leave You of our own free
will, not even... not even if You should not love us any more...» and
Peter sheds large tears silently...



Andrew, John, Alphaeus' two sons also weep openly, and the
others, who are either pale or flushed through emotion, do not
weep, but are clearly suffering.



«Why should I send you away? Did I not choose you twelve?...»
Jairus has wisely withdrawn to leave Jesus free to console or
reproach His apostles. Jesus, Who has noticed his silent with-
drawal, sits down; He is tired, disgusted, grieved and depressed,
as if the revelation He is about to make, cost Him a greater effort
than He can possibly bear, and He says: «And yet, one of you is a
demon.»



His words drop slowly, frighteningly, in the synagogue, where
only the light of the lamps seems to be cheerful... and no one dare
speak. They look at one another with fearful disgust and painful
inquisitiveness and each one examines himself with even greater
anguish and uncertainty...