We see in the first reading that the Israelite people were complaining because the road of the Exodus was very rough and they complained about it to Moses. Ask ourselves when we have a time of hardship and difficulties in life, do we complain like the Israelites or do we put our trust in the Good Lord? Paul tells us that we must have the desire to do good and leave behind our old selfishness according to the likeness of God of which we are made to go forward.

Jesus tells the crowd in this week’s Gospel that they are following Him for the wrong reasons. They were seeking Him because He filled their bellies. We see the same thing with the Israelites, they were content to follow God so long as there was plenty of food to eat.

Food is the most obvious of signs—because it is the most basic of our human needs. We need our daily bread to live, but we cannot live by this bread alone. We need the bread of eternal life that preserves those who believe in Him. That is what we read in the Book of Wisdom: “Instead of these things thou didst give thy people food of angels, and without their toil thou didst supply them from heaven with bread ready to eat, providing every pleasure and suited to every taste, so that thy sons, whom thou didst love, O Lord, might learn that it is not the production of crops that feeds man, but that thy word preserves those who trust in thee.”(Wisdom 16:20, 26).

This is the food that God longs to give us. This is the bread we should be seeking. The manna in the wilderness, like the bread Jesus multiplied for the crowd, was a sign of God’s Providence—that we should trust that He will provide for us. These signs pointed to their fulfillment in the Eucharist, the abundant bread of angels we sing about in this week’s Psalm.

We shall always ask for that Food from Heaven which will satisfy every need of our lives. We shall ask the Lord always to give us the food of the Angels. Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you are the true Bread of Heaven. Only you alone can truly satisfy the deepest longing and hunger of my heart. Nourish me with the bread of life that I may be truly satisfied in you alone as the giver of life. Amen

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley