18th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Aug. 2nd 2009 - Many years ago when Mother Teresa, arrived to New York City to open a new community to serve the poor, a person asked her: Mother did you finish your work in India, why are you coming to New York, what will you do? We don’t have miserable, poor people; nobody dies for hunger in this country. What are you doing here? And Mother Teresa responded: Maybe you don’t have the hunger for the piece of bread, but you have the terrible hunger for love.

Yes, the real hunger of the world it is not necessary for food, but for justice, peace and love. Human beings need two basic kinds of food in order to have perfect happiness and satisfaction: food for the body and food for the soul.

It is what we see this Sunday in the first reading and in the Gospel. After the multiplication of the loaves and fish, people continue looking for Jesus, they took boats and when they found Him the Lord said to them: “Amen, amen I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”

Yes that people changed their minds and hearts, after the miracle, they began to follow Jesus, just for interest. They were looking for the Lord not for him, but for his miracles and food. This a common temptation, when we receive a grace, even a miracle we can change, as this people we can follow Jesus or believe in Jesus only if He does what I want or what I need, just for interest. For that reason we need to purify always our hearts, from every bad desire, interest, ambitions, we must follow and serve Jesus, because He is the Lord, that’s all.

And then the Lord said to them: "Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." And they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God? What do we need to do? And Jesus answered and said: This is the work of God that you believe in the one he sent.”

Yes, as I said, we need two kinds of food, food for our bodies and for our souls and we are working so hard, in the midst of this crisis for our daily bread, because it is necessary to feed our children, but the Lord reminds us today that we cannot work only for the food that perishes, but for the one who gives us eternal life and how different is this bread, this food. The bread that we work every day, perishes as the Lord says, it doesn’t have life in itself but the bread of Jesus, is a living bread, a bread that has life and gives life to us and to the world.

How much are we working for that food, for this bread of heaven? Are we spending all our time and efforts working only for the material bread, are we feeding the bodies of our families and children and their souls, as well? We need to work, of course, but first we need to accomplish the works of God and the work of God is that we believe in Jesus, that we have faith in him and this is the most important work in our life.

This is what God wants from us, that we work in our faith and that we put faith in the hearts of our children, that we help them to know, love and serve the Lord. If we have faith, if they have faith in Jesus, then we will understand his words: "I am the bread of life."

Jesus is the center; we cannot talk about the Eucharist if we not believe in Jesus first, but if we believe in Jesus, then the Eucharist will become the center, the reason of our lives, because the Eucharist is Jesus and Jesus is in the Eucharist. Then the Mass won’t be an obligation for me, no more, it will be a necessity in me.

Brothers and sister, this is the treasure that we give to our families, the treasure of faith so that they believe in Jesus and in his real presence in the Eucharist, teaching them that in the Eucharist we can find all that we need and all that we want, that in the Eucharist we can satisfy our hunger and thirst of God, as The Lord has promised: “Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst”

For that reason we can say that without Eucharist there is no Christian life because the real Christian is the one that is feeding by Christ and is transformed by him in every communion, to become another Christ in the world.

Brothers and sisters, today we have the opportunity to receive this eternal life, the bread of heaven, Jesus Christ our Lord, and with Him all the graces and blessings that we need, for that reason we say in every Mass "Happy are those who are called to his supper". With humble hearts let us ask the Lord today, like these people: “Lord, gives this bread always.” And never let me part from you.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.