Our readings today are kind of unique in their content, and the way they are situated. What we see is an evolution taking place, from the earliest point in our first reading when the Lord provided the people with physical food to sustain their bodies, to Saint Paul’s admonition in our second reading counseling us to a new way of thinking and living, and finally to our Gospel, where our Lord proclaims a new bread to be given to the people, so that they may have eternal life – the true bread come down from heaven – Himself.
The evolution that I spoke of is not a past, or concluded event, it is a continuing process that is hopefully taking place inside each one of us. I say hopefully, because it is something that we each the choice to accept or not, to focus on and nurture, or not. God will never force us to accept His gifts, we each have free will as a sign of His love for each one of us, and it is up to us whether we love Him in return and accept the gifts offered.
For each one of us who accept God’s graces, there is a process of learning to die to self, and to do away with the more tangible things that used to be so important to us in our mere physical state. Instead, we learn to look to a new way of living, to embrace a new self that is more focused on our life in the spirit. Our needs will change as well as part of this process, as we become more focused on our spiritual selves the bread we seek will become less and less that of the conventional and we will seek the body of Christ as our true bread. This bread will sustain us in a way the other could not hope to. Our spiritual strengthening will produce the fruits of the spirit – patience, kindness, love, and compassion for all. This is what we are called to evolve into, the people who will live and seek to function in such a way as to be a part of the body of Christ – the living stones of His Church.
The path is not an easy one, there are no small number of those in our culture who will try to dissuade us, and perhaps even ridicule our efforts. To those, we simply blot out the noise. If an opportunity to correct them, and bring them closer to Christ is there, then we will pursue that, but at all costs we do not allow others to derail our efforts. To do so is to allow the plans of the enemy to succeed. There is a very real struggle that is taking place each and every day, and there is no middle ground – it is a choice quite literally between life and death, and as is so often the case, the path to life is not the easy one. Yet we must listen to our inner guiding voice which is one of the fruits of the spirit, and know it is the only one worthwhile.
The Deacons Bench 