Today’s Gospel, though it seems like a repetition of the last two gospels, aims to transcend a deeper meaning to when Jesus fed the multitude. It reveals to us the truth of how and why Jesus is the Bread of Life—the truth of a promise.
Sometimes we are like the disciples who think that Christ is asking us to do something when He tells us “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”
Let us not be fixated on the action behind the words but on what God wants to give us. We are invited to an eternal promise.
His love and generosity goes beyond our understanding, and the best thing we can do is believe in that promise. It is only then can we understand the entirety of what God wants for us.
As humans, we tend to focus on what we need to do instead of why we need to do something. Being motivated by the “why” inspires us to realize the blessing that is given, an invitation to accept a gift of life. To fully grasp the life God has created for us for all eternity. And that is how God’s love through His Son enables us to live forever.
The life being given to us is more than the physical life we have. No words or feeling can ever describe it, but amazingly, we know it when we taste it.
The Eucharist is life-giving because it is Jesus who gives it, and it is life-giving because it is Jesus Himself who is given. He is our medicine to sustain our health. He is the means to the life, which we deeply hunger.