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| JESUS FEEDS FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE. Image from catholiclivingtoday.blogspot.com |
"Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you. ..."
This is the beginning of the Bread of Life discourse which contains important passages which support the doctrine of transubstantiation and the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
The Lord Jesus Christ is telling us to focus on food which gives eternal life and not on food which is corruptible. As creatures with corporeal body, we are subject to physical needs such as food, drink, clothing, shelter, and others which we call basic needs. It cannot be denied that we need food in order to survive. Without food, our bodies won't function and we will die. So it is understandable that people would exert so much effort to work hard in order to eat. Problem is many times we fail to acknowledge that everything comes from God, that He's the one who truly gives us what we need, and that we ought to fully depend on His providence [see Matthew 6, especially v33]. Moreover, many times we become so engrossed on our basic needs that even those that are not so basic becomes part of our basic needs and instead of being totally dependent on God, we become unfortunately dependent on these other things!
But these things are meaningless and a mere endless cycle which does not end [see Ecclesiastes 1]. We can observe people seek for the attainment of what would fulfill their basic needs, then afterwards, become busy working to get what they want, even when these are not very necessary and the thirst and hunger for more cannot be abated for each day, new things come and go which keep people from being satisfied. And yet in the end, one will realize that all of the efforts which he or she had exerted are really useless and meaningless for they still seek for more, hunger and thirst for more, and cannot be satisfied because they fail to accept and acknowledge that the only thing that could truly and fully satisfy our hearts is God's love.
As we have repeatedly asked, do we eat to live or do we live to eat? Many of us cannot understand the difference between eating in order to live and living in order to eat. For them they are but the same. But eating in order to live is the basic response to the body's need for food in order to survive; while living in order to eat is the body's search for greater satisfaction beyond that which is needed for simple survival. With the first, we simply solve our biological need; with the second, we already aspire for more beyond the requirement of the body to simply survive. It is not bad to aspire for greater things in life. Trouble is it becomes our unnecessary focus most of the time and we forget that we ought to put God first and make Him on top of the priority list!
We must remember that God created everything so that mankind may enjoy a blissful life on earth. Unfortunately, our first parents failed to hold on to their friendly relationship with God and aspired for more. This is still happening today. We keep on aspiring for more and forget that we ought to save what God has already provided us. We exert so much effort on many things that only frustrate us in the end because new versions come and we try to get the latest as soon as possible - and then after a few months, or even mere weeks and even days, they become outdated once again! One example of this is cellular phone.
The Lord Jesus Christ offers us a great alternative, something which will never be outdated, something which will sustain us even for all eternity: the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist - His body and blood. He tells us to work for it and how do we work for it? It is by constantly living in accordance with His own life. Remember, He said, "Follow me!"
His whole earthly life was a consistent obedience to the will of the Father, an unending glorifying of God, and a boundless expression of divine love. It was a 24/7 living in prayer [He prayed alone, with others, when doing miracles, etc], simplicity [He lived with nothing to claim as His own for He was always on the go and needed nothing to possess for He was going back to the Father after fulfilling the Father's will], availability [He was always ready to serve others even when He wanted to give His Apostles a break after being sent two by two to a mission to different villages of Galilee], liturgy [He would fulfill His religious obligations as a Jew thought giving these some sort of updating and establishes Seven Sacraments as signs of His continued saving act through His Church] and mission [He moved around in order to bring the Good News even to those outside of Jewish territory].
Yesterday we were asked this question, "Do you love me?"
The Holy Eucharist is the Lord's greatest manifestation of love for through this Sacrament He gives us His body and blood: the food that give eternal life. As we work hard in order to get food for body, we also have to work hard in order to become worthy of consuming His body and blood. Unless we are worthy, that is, free from sin, we cannot eat His body and drink His blood, or else we shall be doing it for our damnation [see 1 Corinthians 11: 27-29]! Hence if we love Him too, we shall never consume the Holy Eucharist unless we are in the state of grace; and if we really, really love Him, we will never sin and be out of grace!
Let us exert more effort not to pamper our bodies but to assure our souls of eternity. For we have been created by God not to suffer forever but to enjoy His glory for all eternity. If earthly food is worth our sweat, blood and tears; how much more that food which will provide us our ticket to heaven?
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