Fr. Thomas Onabe - The Lord Gave them bread - Responsorial Pslam

The things we have heard and understood,
The things our fathers have told us,
We will tell them to the next generation;
The glories of the lord and his might. R.

Yet he commanded the clouds above,
And opened the gates of heaven.
He rained down manna to eat,
And gave them bread from heaven. R.

Man ate the bread of angels.
He sent them abundance of food.
So he brought them to his holy land,
To the mountain his right hand had own. R.
R/. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

HOMILY FOR THE 18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B

1St Reading: Exod 16: 2-4, 12-15

Psalm: []

2nd Reading: Ephesians 4:17, 20-24

Gospel: John 6: 24-35


General Overview of the Celebration

The readings show us the faithfulness of God in providing for man even when man lacks the best attitude towards His loving care. Above all, the importance of the Eucharist is highly projected in this Liturgy. In Christ, God the Father has given the world ‘real food.’ We are invited to hunger for this food always.

Background to the 1st Reading

This is an account of the stubbornness of the Israelites on their way out of Egypt. Here they murmured against God, Moses and Aaron and doubted the power of God to provide for them. God, in His faithfulness, still provided for them but it was an opportunity to test their understanding of His ways.

HOMILY POINTS

God is faithful
God who took care of the past is able to take care of the future
The futility of being angry with God
Minding the things that have proved the might of God to us
Manna as bread from God
The sensitive God


Exiting the futility of one’s mind
Truth is in Jesus
Putting away the old self of the former way of life
Being renewed in the Spirit
Background to the Gospel

Here John recounts Jesus’ discourse with the crowd that leads to, a stunning revelation by Christ: “My father gives you the true bread... that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,” and an exemplary profession by the crowd: “Sir, give us this bread always.” The importance of this passage lies in its reference to the Eucharist. It reminds of the manna in the 1st reading but goes beyond this physical food to the spiritual nourishment associated with the Eucharist [I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never taste]. The Son is the Father’s best gift to us!

HOMILY POINTS

The Eucharist and spiritual nourishment
Why look for Jesus?
That ‘true’ bread...
The desire to receive the Eucharist often
The Father continues to feed us through His Son

But while all these gifts from God were/are very good to man, while they actually took care of man’s physical hunger and thirst, these gifts were not enough to give perpetual satisfaction. They were temporary. They ceased and finished with the past; they were only physical and left the spirit in want; they might have given strength but could not give life; they were perishable food and could not endure for eternal life.

Man in his condition, even if he did not know it, needed more than physical food. Again, this was known to God and at His appointed time, He sent man the best of gifts: “the true bread from heaven.” Yes, the Gospel today qualifies this new gift as “true bread.” This is not to suggest that the other bread that God gave in the past was ‘false.’ It is only to explain that this new bread offers the fullness of satisfaction which the other did not. This new bread ‘endures for eternal life.’

This is what man really needed – food that does not only endure but satisfies and leads to eternal life. The best part of it is that God does not give it today and tomorrow allows you to figure out if it will be or not. In this new case, God CONTINUES to provide this gift in unquantifiable abundance. There is no temptation of wanting to gather more lest one starves as the Israelites thought with manna. This new food, this true bread, is ever present. Note how Jesus Himself introduces this ‘true bread’ with the present tense. He talks about manna in the past and immediately switches to the present while discussing the nature of this new ‘true bread.’ He says: “It was not Moses who GAVE you the bread from heaven, my Father GIVES you the true bread from heaven.” [Note the change in tenses] This new food is given as a continuous gift in the present. To help us identify this gift, Jesus, in today’s Gospel says that this new “bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” This ‘bread’ cannot be any other person than Jesus Christ who has declared about Himself: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Man could not ask for more and this explains why even the usually doubtful Jews told Him: “Sir, give us this bread always.”