Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Proverbs 9:1-6 - Ephesians 5:15-20 - John 6:51-58
The “Living Bread”
The summons to us to “grow in our understanding,” resounds in today’s readings from Proverbs and Ephesians. As such, this common message functions not only as a framework but also a challenge within Jesus’ subsequent teaching in today’s Gospel— “I am the living bread.” So, given this, what does it mean that we should grow in understanding of how and where Jesus is the living bread in our lives each and every day?
For the most part, “I am the living bread,” are words that evoke images of the conventional eucharistic liturgy. As Catholic Christians, we believe that through the prayers of the community gathered, ordinary bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Jesus—the presence of Jesus with us today. It is through this eucharistic meal that we become what we eat—the living bread, the presence of Jesus in the world. However, the readings today invite us not only to hold this conventional understanding but also to grow in our understanding of what “I am the living bread,” means for us today, perhaps in situations outside of conventional eucharistic liturgies.
Many years ago, I lived for a time in a squatter’s community in West Kingston, Jamaica. The daily grind was for survival. Accessing water, adequate shelter and food preoccupied almost every man, woman, and child living there every single day. One evening, returning home from work to a small room which Pam and her daughter Janice shared with me, I found myself without even a single piece of bread to eat. I was hot, sweat-drenched, tired from a day’s work, and covered with the grime of the minibus and the road. I was also very hungry. But I simply did not have the energy to buy a few pieces of coal, a bit of oil, and some cheap chicken-back from a local merchant.
As I approached our little house, Pam and seven-year-old Janice were bringing their meager meal of a few spoonsful of rice and chicken neck from the fire to their plates. I was too embarrassed to watch them eat, but as I turned away, pretending to be going to the water pipe, Janice held a third plate out to me. Each was sharing a part of their meager meal with me.
“I am the living bread.” Do you understand?
All around us, every moment of every day, in all kinds of circumstances, the bread of life is being offered. In today’s scripture readings, we are challenged to understand this, and what it means for our living, and our believing.
Where and how have you experienced a new understanding of eucharist this past week?
Where have you received eucharist within a circumstance other than a conventional eucharistic liturgy? Where have you offered eucharist to others?
“We are also the living bread.” Do we understand?
Sr. Arlene Flaherty, OP
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