Just as the Father sent me, and I have life because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate manna but still died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.John 6: 57-58
We all have within us a hunger of the spirit. It is an integral part of the human condition. Most of us do not recognize it for what it is. We sense that we are somehow incomplete, that something is missing in us; but we do not know what it is or how to get hold of it.
This emptiness feels a lot like the hungers of the body, so we mistakenly try to fill it with things that satisfy the body. But they do not satisfy. They may take our mind off it for a while, but it always comes back stronger than ever.
This hunger of the spirit is a mystery hidden in the mind of God. Only God who created us knows what will fulfill us. And he does not wish this mystery to be hidden from us. Throughout the ages he has sent his Word into the world through prophets and sages and saints. But the world has never listened to them. So in the end he sent his own Son into the world, the very image of himself, to reveal once and for all the mystery of our emptiness and our fulfillment.
His Son Jesus revealed that God loves each of us, that he created us for himself so that he could draw us to his heart in everlasting love. The hunger of the spirit is a hunger for God. And only God can satisfy it.
Jesus came into the world to show us that the love of God does not lie at the end of the long road of our earthly life but is already in our midst. Eternal life has already begun. Whenever we gather in his name, his Spirit is present among us, nourishing us, enkindling the fire of love in us, strengthening us for the life of faith. When we hear the Word proclaimed, when we break bread in memory of him, when we pray with a sincere heart, when we choose good, when we forgive our enemies, he is present within us, satisfying our longing for holiness. We partake of his life-giving Spirit, and on the strength of that Spirit we set out anew on the journey to eternal life.
Lord Jesus, you are the bread of life. You laid down your life to show the depth of your love. You abide with us in Spirit, and you nourish us for our daily journey of faith. May we always walk with you in faith, until we reach the end of our journey in the kingdom of heaven.