Newsletter August 1st 2021 (18th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

The people gathered around Jesus along the lakeshore were concerned only with their need of food and drink. They were so enthusiastic about his multiplying the loaves that they wanted to make Jesus their king. They were blind to the spiritual significance of the miracle, and the message he wanted to teach through it. “Do not work for food that cannot last,” he warned, “but for food that lasts to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering.”

What about ourselves? If we are willing to follow Jesus, but only on our own terms, we can be like the careless crowd. If we feel he has let us down, we may turn away from him. This is not the response that draws grace into our lives. We must seek our Lord for himself, and not for what we can get from him. The bread from heaven for us is the Eucharist, and the proper way to receive its blessing is to open-up to God’s love, given to us in Jesus. Unlike those who abandoned Jesus when no more bread was forthcoming, we must persevere as his faithful followers.