We chase after so much, which at the end of the day, will only pass away and thus will not be able to sustain us. We often grumble when we don't get what we want especially if we have to undergo a little bit of hardship along the way. No matter how we swing things hardship happens and thus we must learn to embrace it. No matter how important the passing desires of this world may seem to be we must remember that all should point towards one ultimate culmination. The Israelites passed from the slavery experienced in Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea and thus they entered into freedom. Despite all that God has given them they began to grumble that they were hungry and thus they were given food to sustain their physical hunger.
Last week we heard how Jesus saw the hunger of the multitude and gave them food to sustain them. This is a foreshadowing of the spiritual nourishment that we must receive in the Most Holy Eucharist. This week we are told that the bread that comes down from Heaven is a bread which is so great that it will never pass away. This bread is referring not to a physical hunger that we might have, but is going much deeper. This is a food which will feed us spiritually and will nourish our soul for all time to be held in relationship with God. In times of hardship and in times of need may we realize and trust that Christ continues to pour Himself out entirely for us in the Eucharist.
The hardships of this life are very real, but may we not act like the Israelites who were ungrateful to God for all that He had bestowed upon them. They were not led out into the desert to be lost and forgotten, and so we have not been brought into this world to remain lost and forgotten. Heaven can be lived out on this earth because the Eucharist points to the fact that Christ continues to dwell with us here. Let us not live out our life as if there is a great disconnect, but instead may we trust in the reality that God's love is so great that it continues to sustain us no matter what need that may be present within our heart. May we not grumble against God, but prevail ourself to the grace which is poured out to us in the Eucharist.
We must take the Sacrament of the Eucharist more seriously each day. All the actions of our life should be pointing their way towards Christ who is present in the Eucharist. So often our actions are not made from the reflection of how this will take me to God or how will this take others towards God, but instead our actions are often done on the spur of the moment; even if they carry life long ramifications with them. We must desire to be a better witness to the Christian life because it will only be in this manner that we can follow after the words of Saint Paul who instructed us: "you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth."
Christ shows us that to be His follower does not mean that we must now be like everyone else. We must cut ourself off from this wordily reality that detracts us from Christ. Christ continues to prevail Himself to us in the Eucharist that we may sent forth from here with the knowledge that we are now held together in communion with God through our reception of such a wondrous Sacrament. Hopefully we will not allow our reception of such a gift to leave us unchanged, but instead to transform us into reflecting Christ more and more to this world. It is not the grumbling of the Israelites that drew souls towards God, but it was the food that sustained them within the desert. May we not grumble, but instead partake of this Heavenly Food and thus reform our life to follow after such a great gift for: "whoever comes to Christ will never hunger, and whoever believes in Christ will never thirst."
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