Sunday Reflections

I can remember, as a child, watching the cartoons of ‘Popeye the Sailor’.  You knew eventually that the escapades of Popeye, Olive Oil, Wimpy, and Brutus would lead to Popeye ripping off the lid of a can of spinach and consuming it in order to find the extra-ordinary strength to overcome Brutus and protect the lovely Olive Oil.  (At an early age, this did not give me any appetite for spinach, but only later in life did I come to enjoy it.) 

I thought of this sudden outpouring of energy and strength when eating spinach when I first read the gospel of this weekend.  Once again, the theme of food is central to the gospel.  Jesus tells them, “I am the bread of life that came down from heaven”.   Later He repeats his message of last week that, “I am the bread of life”.  He goes on to say, “I am the living bread”.  He reminds them of the manna in the desert, as we heard last week in the First Reading from the Book of Exodus.  He tells them that their ancestors, who ate this miraculous bread, did die, but that those who eat “the bread that comes down from heaven” will “not die”. 

Today’s readings emphasize the supernatural character of the “bread of life”, the Eucharist.  It is indeed ”bread from heaven ”.  This bread that is brought to the altar will not remain bread for very long.  It will soon – through the grace of the Holy Spirit – become “bread from heaven”.   Whereas the bread we eat at home fills our stomach and gives us energy to concentrate and work, and keeps us healthy, the “bread from heaven” also gives us life – spiritual life!  This consecrated host will not give us much nutrition physically to be healthy and active, but spiritually it will fill us with grace.  Like Popeye ripped off the top of the spinach can and ate the spinach, here we receive extra-ordinary grace, blessing, and life.  It is our food for the journey, like the food and drink that Elijah received from God.  May we never take it for granted, or the source of life it brings us in our life with God.