19th Sunday of Ordinary Time - August 9th, 2009 - This Sunday we continue with this beautiful catechesis about the Eucharist according to the chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, the Chapter of the Bread of Life. I’m the bread that comes from Heaven, says the Lord again on this Sunday, but if we analyze the scripture, we can say that in these verses from today Gospel the word, the sign that is more emphasize and repeated is the word bread.

The Lord has taught us always in a simple way, using parables, signs, examples, etc., and when He is teaching about the Eucharist he used the sign of bread, why? What is bread, what does bread mean for us?

In the Liturgy we know that the sacraments are signs that communicate Grace that the sacraments realize in us what they mean. For that reason in order to understand the words of the Lord and the Sacrament of the Eucharist, first we need to understand what bread means for us.

If we ask about bread to the people, we can get many different answers, for example if we ask a farmer about bread, maybe he will think first about the preparation of the field, the sown, the harvest and the hope that he has in his work to produce the wheat for the bread. If we ask the same to the one who prepares the bread, the baker, he will tell you about the boundaries and qualities of the bread, how important are the ingredients, flour, the yeast, sugar and the process: temperature, time, the oven, etc. He will tell you that prepare bread is an art, almost a religious rite, that make him happy. If we ask about bread to a father or mother that take care and feed their children, they will tell you about the efforts and sacrifices that they make every day to provide the daily bread for their family, to strengthen them and if we ask the poor the hungry ones about bread they will tell you, that to have a piece of bread sometimes is a treasure, is a gift that they receive from generous people.

Brothers and sisters, all these meanings of the bread, has also  the Eucharist for us, the Eucharist strengthen us, gives us hope, joy, produces union between God and his people, produces communion between families and above all gives us Life, eternal life.

And it happens when we present this simple bread, fruit of our work, to the Altar and is consecrated by the hands of the priest. The simple bread that means everything what we have said becomes now, this is a miracle, in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, the real bread from heaven that comes to give us life, to share with us his life so that we will not perish, we will not die as we see in the first reading with the example of the prophet Elijah.

Without the Eucharist we cannot survive. Life is great, is beautiful but is hart, difficult.  As the Lord says to Elijah, This way is too long and sometimes, we are overwhelmed, it is too much for us and we can say like the prophet: This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.’

Brothers and sisters like the prophet Elijah, sometimes we are in distress, desperate, labor or burdened, we are alone or even dying in that moments we need to remember these words of the Lord: Get Up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!, it is too much for you and without me you cannot make it, you can do nothing, you will perish. Yes, we need to get up and to come to the Lord, to the Eucharist and also we need to help others, to awake others, especially those who are perishing in their souls without this heavenly food, without the Eucharist.

We known that, only Jesus is able to give us the real and eternal life and happiness, He and non other, because He is the real Bread of Life. This is what we need to believe and teach to our children, try to ask them: Do you want to live forever? Of course they will say yes and tell them: then you should come to the Mass every Sunday and receive the Eucharist, because Jesus has promised that: Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

Brothers and sisters this Bread from heaven, was the solution, the salvation for the prophet Elijah and it is for us, as well. In the Eucharist is the solution of all our problems  distress and sufferings, all that we want and need, all that we are looking for is in the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is Christ and Christ is in the Eucharist.

Let us accept today his invitation, let us come to receive his strength, hope and grace, let us come, as the psalm says, to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

May God bless you and bless your families, abundantly on this day.

Amen.