What gives value to every moment

(John 6:35–40)

    Jesus’ words highlight the clear distinction between ordinary food and the Bread that does not perish.

This distinction is drawn from Deuteronomy 8:3 – in reference to the Manna, the Word of the Lord (wisdom-filled food that liberates and imparts life).

Wisdom 16:20–21, 26 acknowledges that the manna of the desert was food prepared by angels, but what truly sustains life is the Word.

Those heavenly fruits, whilst delicious and capable of satisfying every palate, do not satisfy – they do not nourish completely.

The symbolic language used by Christ also draws on cultural paradigms that identified manna with wisdom.

He thus reveals himself in this way in the discourse on the Bread of Life.

Coming to the Lord is not within our power. Fulfilling the works of the Law, perhaps yes – with effort – but carrying out the Work of God is not unnatural.

It does not depend on a thought, a choice or a disciplinary practice.

In short, the Subject of the journey in the Spirit is God Himself, who works within us. 

Human action is, in every instance, a response to His self-revelation and to His own action [cosmic and within the soul of each person; whether convergent or not].

The Coming from on high is crucial: it gives rise to the relationship of Faith. A personal relationship, which is not mere assent and fulfilment, but rather interpretation and vision.

Forward movement and the discovery of resurrection – in particular, of the shadowed aspects that become resources.

Thus Faith-love expands life, for it draws its impetus from divine generosity, from Grace.

In this way, it becomes a decision, a calling, a responsibility; an inescapable and decisive duty – yet, despite this, a personal one.

Christ is Food that must be eaten, broken down, through Faith.

This evocation becomes Eucharistic, the realisation of the ‘Life of the Eternal One’ (v. 40, Greek text), even if it differs from refined forms; here and now.

As he dies, without any delay, Jesus commends his Spirit (John 19:30), which suddenly gives rise to the sacramental experience (John 19:34).

The Life of the Eternal One is not a pious hope in the hereafter: the term denotes the very inner life of God, which unfolds and bursts into history [sometimes rather abruptly] in a multifaceted way.

Energy, Nourishment, New Clarity: it reaches out to women and men who see and believe in the Son.

It is a Faith-Vision that discerns meaning and enables direct appropriation: it soars over insurmountable obstacles.

A Faith-Gesture that gushes forth; a Faith-Action that becomes a leaven of expansion, for it has already stirred up insight, a holistic awareness, and an intimate assent.

It sharpens and expands the transformative resources of souls and of events themselves.

It bestows, in the first person, comprehensive generative abilities – both external and internal, indestructible; which lose nothing [no longer doomed to death: v.39].

The obtuse gaze surrounding the first communities already sealed the Mystery.

But contrary to the First Testament (Ex 33:22–23), through Faith one now sees God and lives, without fear (Ex 3:6).

Whoever ‘sees’ the Son ‘has’ the very Life of the Eternal One (v. 40).

The Vision of Faith, the Vision of the Son, the Vision of the glorious outcome of the One who was rejected by the religious authorities and deemed accursed by God, makes one become One with Him.

It is a present Resurrection, even amidst the fleeting and burdensome experience of a life scattered in many directions.

The image deemed impossible and untenable gives way to a process of interpretation, action and reorganisation that draws in the future.

It gives way to the wholeness of God’s humanising and distinct world.

This shift in perspective breaks through the web of appearances and of banal convictions, whether inherited or fashionable.

In short: grasping this becomes the driving force of salvation, a foundation that transcends the pre-human.

Perceiving it becomes an Encounter; in its own, enduring dimension. The principle of blessed eternity.

By the end of the first century, the churches sensed the risk of collapse.

The gradual divergence from pagan religion in general, and Judaising devotion in particular, led to a wide-ranging debate with implications for customs, internal affairs, and even liturgy.

The battle against Pharisaic purism sparked controversies of every kind, including whether or not to segregate foreigners.

Differences of opinion arose even regarding the very canon of Scripture (which, for Christians, had long been in Hellenistic Greek).

According to believers in Jesus, the Source of full and indestructible life [‘Life of the Eternal One’: v.40 Greek text] is not material bread.

Even here on earth, the all-encompassing Nourishment lies in no trivial certainty.

Rather, one must ‘see the Son’ (v. 40).

This means recognising in the Master a story that does not end in failure, for despite the leaders’ rejection, the outcome of his—and our—story is the divine state. Indestructible glory.

And ‘Believing in Him’ (v.40) does not depend on cultural background or a shared social standing, but on a unique process of understanding.

To see and to have Faith is to entrust oneself to the luminous [it seems absurd] Vision that is communicated in the innermost fibres of our being and from the very first ‘Birth’. Certain of full harmony and fulfilment in that pre-eminent Figure.

We do not adhere out of enthusiasm or personal initiative [the ‘Church of events’, as Pope Francis puts it].

The life of the Eternal One within us begins in the eye of the soul; an echo of the primordial Dream.

It takes root in grasping the Father’s path. He desires for His least ones a fullness of character and disposition, free from conformism.

Only through the Gift in which we recognise ourselves from our very roots and in our very essence do we sense joyful harmonies that identify the desires, words, actions and path of the Risen One himself, who beats within us.

The Person of Christ is the only Food without standardisation.

Nourished by the Bread-Person, we can avoid both the search for false certainties and the craving for crutches—such as connections, financial backers, or prestigious institutions that guarantee privileges; and so on.

Preferring the Broken Bread.

The food of the earth sustains physical life, but it cannot bring us back to life through unique personal genesis, nor can it open a path for us beyond death.

This gives value to every moment.

To internalise and live out the message:

What does it mean for you to see the Son and believe in Him?

Do not project onto God the image of a master-servant relationship

The multiplication of the loaves and fishes is a sign of the great gift that the Father has given to humanity, which is Jesus Himself!

He, the true ‘bread of life’ (v. 35), wishes to satisfy not only bodies but also souls, by giving the spiritual food that can satisfy the deepest hunger. For this reason, he invites the crowd to seek not food that does not last, but that which endures for eternal life (cf. v. 27). This is the food that Jesus gives us every day: his Word, his Body, his Blood. The crowd hears the Lord’s invitation, but does not understand its meaning – as so often happens to us too – and asks him: ‘What must we do to carry out the works of God?’ (v. 28). Jesus’ listeners think that he is asking them to observe the commandments in order to obtain further miracles such as the multiplication of the loaves. This is a common temptation: to reduce religion solely to the observance of laws, projecting onto our relationship with God the image of the relationship between servants and their master: servants must carry out the tasks assigned by their master in order to gain his favour. We all know this. That is why the crowd wants to know from Jesus what actions they must perform to please God. But Jesus gives an unexpected answer: ‘This is the work of God: that you believe in the one whom he has sent’ (v. 29). These words are addressed to us today as well: the work of God does not consist so much in ‘doing’ things, but in ‘believing’ in the One whom He has sent. This means that faith in Jesus enables us to carry out the works of God. If we allow ourselves to be drawn into this relationship of love and trust with Jesus, we will be able to carry out good works that reflect the Gospel, for the good and the needs of our brothers and sisters.

The Lord invites us not to forget that, whilst it is necessary to concern ourselves with bread, it is even more important to nurture our relationship with Him, to strengthen our faith in Him who is the ‘bread of life’, who came to satisfy our hunger for truth, our hunger for justice, and our hunger for love.

(Pope Francis, Angelus, 5 August 2018)