The psalmist knows that the praise of the Lord will be ever in his mouth, because anyone can taste and see how good the Lord is (Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9). Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven…and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:41-51).
Taste and see how good the Lord is
The psalmist starts off with an overflowing praise to God and proclaiming the appropriateness of blessing God at all times and with his whole being. He takes leave to glorify the Lord as, though, in an assembly at worship where other lowly ones (the anawim), who trust and depend on the Lord, are gathered and can hear and be glad. The witness by the psalmist becomes an invitation to others to join him in rejoicing and extolling the name of the Lord. Without giving details, the psalmist confesses that he was in distress and when he turned to the Lord, he was rescued. This is the reason he glorifies God and bids others to do likewise.
The others are encouraged to look to the Lord, so that they too may rejoice in gratitude and their faces may be radiant with joy and not covered with shame. One’s dignity and state is mirrored and expressed on one’s face, as we think of Moses’ face radiant with divine light (Exodus 34) after his 40 days of contemplation on Mount Sinai. In our affliction, let us turn to the Lord and call out to Him, and He will hear us and save us, as is illustrated by the case of the psalmist. An additional image is that of the angel of the Lord who encamps around those who fear God and protects them from all perils. Indeed, blessed is the man who takes refuge in the Lord. We are all encouraged to taste God’s goodness and to experience how delightful and satisfying it is.
Drawn to Jesus by the Father
The Jews, those who found it difficult to accept Jesus, complained and smoldered within themselves because Jesus said He is the bread come down from heaven. They saw a contradiction in Jesus’ claim of heavenly origin, considering that they knew well enough His Father and mother and, therefore, His human origin. Jesus was not surprised at His opponents’ lack of understanding and outrage at Him, and He stressed even more His origin from above. No one can come to Him, unless His heavenly Father draws the person to Him. Those who do not come to Jesus as the bread of life are clearly not led by the Father. But those who are led to Him by the Father, Jesus will raise from the dead on the last day, sharing in the resurrection to new and eternal life.
The people who believe in the one sent by the Father listen to the word of God and learn from it. They are all taught by God himself, quoted Jesus from the prophet (Isaiah 54:13). They are open and ready, even if they have not seen the Father in the way that the one close to the Father’s side/heart (John 1:18) has. In the divine plan, this heart-mate (kapuso) who is from God has made God known as His Father, and those who long for the truth seek this great revelation of the relationship between Jesus and the Father and the mutuality of their action to draw people into their communion of life.
I am the living bread from heaven
Jesus reasserts with full power His central teaching that He is the bread of life and whoever believes in Him has eternal life. His concern is for people to eat the bread of life, to enter into His circle of life and share in His loving relationship with the Father. This kind of nourishment is altogether different from the manna of old in the wilderness, which, though sent by God, was an earthly food for the sustenance of earthly life. Those who ate the manna nonetheless died. As the living bread from heaven, Jesus is the source of eternal life coming from God’s very self for the life of the world, so that those who eat of it may not die.
As the bread of life from heaven, Jesus assures those who eat it that they will live forever. Then He identifies that it is His flesh that He will give as the bread for the life of the world. To give His flesh means to sacrifice His own human life; He will offer His life so that the world may have eternal life.
Alálaong bagá, in offering Himself in the Eucharist as the marvelous living bread from heaven for the life of the world, Jesus introduces us to a new life through death. As He entered into and went beyond death to make us taste the goodness of the Lord and give us participation in the divine life, we who believe and eat of this bread are called to die in order to rise with Him to everlasting life.
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