Jesus uses the imagery of bread to speak to us about his relationship with us. A life without bread is unimaginable, as it sustains our daily life. So many people have labored behind the scenes for a small piece of bread to become the food for us. Even though there are verities of food to satisfy our physical hunger, there is only one bread to sustain our spiritual life. The Christian life is nourished through the Holy Eucharist from the beginning of Christianity. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells us that he is “the living bread that comes down from heaven”.
The people of Israel were in the desert for forty years on their way to the Promised Land. The desert is the last place someone seeks food and water. But God provided the Jews with their daily bread and miraculously nourished them. It is a great example of God protecting his people in the worst conditions of their lives. Even though the people found the manna on the earth, they called it the bread from heaven. It was the life-giving bread for the people on their journey. The people received it every day except the day of the Sabbath. But they could collect and keep it for the Sabbath day. The manna helped the people to be alive until they reached their destination, the Holy Land. Our manna is the Eucharist, which nourishes us in our journey to heaven. For us, the real and the life-giving bread from heaven is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The Eucharist is the source of our spiritual nourishment. By receiving the Eucharist, we receive a share in the divine life of Jesus. Then it enables us to have an intimate friendship with our loving God. The Holy Eucharist is not only our spiritual food but also a medicine to heal us from many spiritual ailments. Here we encounter Jesus in the form of ordinary bread. Just as material food sustains our life, the Bread of Life nourishes our spiritual life. As Christians, we can participate in the divine life of God through this Eucharist. Our relationship with Christ is a relationship of love that is sustained through the reception of the Eucharist.
Father János Brenner was a Catholic priest of the Cistercian Order from Hungary. He had two brothers who also became priests to serve the people during the Communist era. Father János was born in 1931 and was ordained a priest in 1955 at the age of 24. His ministry was among the youth, and the Communist government considered him a threat to their ideology.
On 15 December 1957 around midnight Father János was preparing the homily for the following day. Then he received a call for the last rites for a dying man in the next village. The priest never thought that the Communist Regime would use his altar server to trap him. Father János took the holy oils and the Eucharist and went to see the dying man. He was soon ambushed in the woods and stabbed 32 times until he died. People found him dead with the Eucharist still in his hands. Father János had been a priest for less than two years at that time. The Catholics built a chapel on the spot where he was martyred by their government. Now people call him the “Hungarian Tarcisius” since he died like St. Tarcius of Rome. Father János was beatified on 1 May 2018. Father János Brenner gave his life for his people, just like his Master, Jesus.
My dear brothers and sisters: Today we need to ask ourselves whether we hunger for Christ who gives true meaning to our lives. Let us ask Jesus to nourish us spiritually through the Eucharist so that we may inherit the eternal life prepared for us in heaven.
Rev. Dr. Mathew Charthakuzhiyil