WORD ALIVE

“I am the bread of life,” Jesus tells us in this 18th Sunday gospel. 

The Lord was concerned for our basic needs. He showed this when he miraculously multiplied  the  meager bread  and fishes for the hungry crowd (Gospel of last Sunday).

But he also  prescribed  a spiritual  food.  Thus, Jesus decided to dwell inside the bread of the Eucharist to become the nourishment of our souls.
Psychologists speak about two kinds of hunger. There is a physical hunger, which worldly food can satisfy, but there’s also a spiritual hunger, which no worldly food can satisfy us.
 

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There is a friend I know who was making good in his career as a company executive of a prosperous food conglomerate in Makati. But everybody was surprised when, after many years, he quit his high-paying job and turned his back on a huge retirement pension to work fulltime in the Spirit of Love Charismatic Community.

In charge of the outreach charismatic seminars, he traveled to the provinces, many times coming home in the wee hours of the morning.
Concerning his daily needs, he said: “I have a business, and I may not be making as much money as I used to do, but I can’t exchange the happiness and satisfaction I now experience.” 

There are other people who have discovered a greater fulfillment in doing the work of the Lord. 

Ask yourself: Do I really believe Christ’s presence in the Eucharist? Do I appreciate its importance by receiving it whenever I attend mass?
Remember, Jesus’  words:  “I am the bread of life…He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.” 
As the great St. Augustine wrote in his book Confessions: “Our hearts are made for You, O  God, and they are restless until they rest in You.”
 

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Here is a story of a lady named Brigitte Guerney. In 1985 while walking in a street of New York City, a construction crane fell pinning her underneath. For six agonizing hours, paramedics frantically struggled to keep her alive until she could be removed from the heavy crane.

During the ordeal Brigitte was  given blood transfusions, fluids and painkillers. But she asked for one specific thing and that was to receive Holy Communion. She was then taken to a hospital where doctors operated on her for another five hours. Miraculously, she survived.

The crane accident was only one of a series of previous mishaps Brigitte had suffered. At age 18 months, her son drowned accidentally. Her husband died of cancer. Her father was killed in an automobile accident. She had an operation to remove a cancer and she had suffered multiple injuries in a cable car crash in Switzerland in 1982.
 

One would say this woman was born unlucky (malas) but others would call her bionic because with her firm faith in the “living bread” and the Eucharist, she had survived all those misfortunes.
 

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Support seminarians. Our seminarians are now enrolling for the new school year. A number are from poor families needing financial help. Let’s remember how important our future priests are in the Church. Without them, we cannot have ordained ministers to dispense the sacraments like the Holy Mass, baptism,  confession and go to far-flung mission apostolate.

Donate any amount or sponsor a seminarian's schooling for one school year. God Bless. ([email protected])