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The Cloisters August 2004

April 14, 2005

Bread from Heaven Jn 6:44-51

Jesus said to the crowds: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets:

They shall all be taught by God.

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world."

"Whoever believes has eternal life." The bread of life is Jesus who came from heaven so that we could have life and gave his life for us. Things of the world are passing but faith in God stands forever. It is a continual turning to God that opens my heart to the belief to the loss of the worldly distractions that pull me away from that life in God.

Manna was a temporary bread from heaven that spoiled after a day. So many of the worldly rewards are like that they have their pull on me but they offer something of a truly ephemeral nature. There is no greater love than to give your life for another. There is a daily dying to self that we experience when out of love we do what we do not want to do but in our heart know it is God's will for others. We have those daily events when we are called to be Jesus, the bread of life to others and give up our self completely. It is a call daily to a conversion of heart.

I pray that today in my actions to all I can put aside myself and be the bread of life to others. To act totally in love, with the passing things of this world in proper perspective. It certainly is a daily journey through the desert.