August 05, 2018 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Ex 16:2-4, 12-15 2nd Reading: Eph 4:17, 20–24 Gospel: Jn 6:24–35
When they saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Master, when did you come here?” Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, you look for me, not because you have seen through the signs, but because you ate bread and were satisfied. Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for he is the one the Father has marked.” Then the Jews asked him, “What shall we do? What are the works that God wants us to do?” And Jesus answered them, “The work God wants is this: that you believe in the One whom God has sent.” They then said, “Show us miraculous signs, that we may see and believe you. What sign do you perform? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says: They were given bread from heaven to eat.” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven.
My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread God gives is the One who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” And they said to him, “Give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in me shall never be thirsty.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
People looked for Jesus because of the abundant bread he was able to provide in the desert. But Jesus raised their search for bread to higher levels and said to them: “Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life.”
There is nothing wrong with searching for perishable food; what is wrong is dedicating life solely for that search. Lived spent this way reduces existence to a bottomless pit where thirst for a particular need only triggers an unbroken chain of needs and wants. This is slavery plain and simple. The only search that leads to freedom is search for God. This is the reason why Jesus advised the Jews to go beyond search for perishable food and give greater importance to faith. Faith frees a person from this bottomless search. Marianne Moore wrote in her “Spenser’s Ireland”: “You are not free until you’ve been made captive by Supreme belief.” When we are held captive by Jesus, we shake ourselves free from material concerns and commit ourselves to the search for the bread that gives everlasting life.
– (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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