The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to look beyond our immediate concerns and distractions to living in awareness of eternal truth, beauty and goodness.
Seeking Food for Enduring Life
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles contrasts anger with angelic peace in the arrest of Stephen.
* [6:13] False witnesses: here, and in his account of Stephen’s execution (Acts 7:54–60), Luke parallels the martyrdom of Stephen with the death of Jesus.1
Psalm 119 celebrates the glories of God’s Law.
* [Psalm 119] This Psalm, the longest by far in the Psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others’ fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law’s consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them.2
In the Gospel of John, Jesus implores the crowd to seek the Bread from Heaven.
* [6:27] The food that endures for eternal life: cf. Jn 4:14, on water “springing up to eternal life.”3
Nicky Santos, S.J. notes that Jesus himself chastises the crowds who seek him out. This is because they have a wrong idea of who he is. Their focus is on the earthly and temporal whereas Jesus is inviting them to move their attention to the heavenly and eternal. He wants them to seek the food that only he can give, one that will last forever.
As I reflect on the gospel, I ask myself whether I focus on what is temporary, fleeting, superficial, or on what is eternal, lasting, deep. Is my relationship with Jesus merely one where I seek him to perform miracles? Or is it one where I truly believe who Jesus is, the one sent by God? And does this believing translate itself into action where I become the presence of Jesus in the world today.4
Don Schwager quotes “God is our landlord,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Our wish, you see, is to attain to eternal life. We wish to reach the place where nobody dies, but if possible we do not want to get there via death. We would like to be whisked away there while we are still alive and see our bodies changed, while we are alive, into that spiritual form into which they are to be changed when we rise again. Who wouldn't like that? Isn't it what everybody wants? But while that is what you want, you are told, Quit. Remember what you have sung in the psalm: 'A lodger am I on earth'" If you are a lodger, you are staying in someone else's house; if you are staying in someone else's house, you quit when the landlord bids you. And the landlord is bound to tell you to quit sooner or later, and he has not guaranteed you a long stay. After all, he did not sign a contract with you. Seeing that you are lodging with him for nothing, you quit when he tells you to. And this, too, has to be put up with, and for this, too, patience is very necessary." (excerpt from Sermon 359A,8)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 6:22-29 comments that a closer look reveals that Jesus knows what’s on their hearts and minds. They are searching for him because they had eaten and were filled, not necessarily for any other reason. He seems to be saying to them, You ate the bread and were satisfied. But there is one standing before you who can give you bread that will satisfy your deepest hunger. The people were content with being fed physically, but Jesus had so much more to give them—his own Body and Blood.
Today in prayer, put your immediate needs before Jesus with trust and confidence in his care for you. But don’t stop there. Listen to him. Let him tell you what’s on his heart. That’s what good friends do. He may remind you of his steadfast love for you or encourage you in some way that you didn’t expect. Even if you don’t hear anything, sit before him in silence and let him fill you with a sense of his presence and peace. If you look to Jesus with faith that he, and he alone, can satisfy your hunger, you will be amazed at the “bread” he offers you! “Lord Jesus, help me to look beyond my immediate needs for the ‘food’ that never perishes (John 6:27).”6
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the background to the anger of the Freedmen to the preaching of the Hellenist, Stephen. The use of signs in the Gospel of John is ambiguous; to an external action or to a greater reality? Friar Jude underlines that our relationship with Jesus is the focus of the Gospel of John.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that both Augustine and Paul are pointing out that the Eternal One has come forth and has taken on form and manifestation in the whole of creation: humans, animals, plants, elements, the galaxies, and all the endless forms and faces that have come forth from God. Everything in creation is the infinite self-emptying of God, and as such has inherent dignity and deserves respect and appreciation.
St. Bonaventure (1221–1274) taught that to work up to loving God, start with the easier lesson of loving the very humblest and simplest things, and then move up from there. “Let us place our first step in the ascent at the bottom, presenting to ourselves the whole material world as a mirror, through which we may pass over to God, the Supreme Craftsman,” he wrote. And further, “The Creator’s supreme power, wisdom and benevolence shine forth in created things.” [3]7
Our meditation in nature and in our relationships opens us to the nudges of the Spirit to seek and treasure the bread of eternal life.
References
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