“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger; whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (John: 6:35)
In 1923 an Indianapolis bakery planned to bring a new product to market -- a one and a half pound loaf of sliced bread. But, first, the product needed a name and identity. Employee Elmer Cline received the task of merchandising the new bread.
Inspiration came that summer while Elmer was visiting the International Balloon Race at the Indianapolis Speedway. He was awestruck by the sky filled with hundreds of colorful hot air balloons. To Elmer, the image signified “wonder,” and Wonder Bread was born. For 80 years, colorful red, blue, and yellow balloons have been the cornerstone of Wonder Bread’s logo and package.
In 1941Wonder introduced a revolutionary new way of baking to eliminate holes in bread. No longer did American children have to endure the messy leakage of jams and jellies – a predicament only a little less annoying that a leaky diaper. The innovation revolutionized the baking industry and in no time was being hailed as, what else, “the best thing since sliced bread.”
Bread in some form has been a food staple in the human diet for thousands of years, especially for the poor who struggle constantly to get enough to eat. Particularly in biblical times, bread was essential for day to day existence.
Last Sunday’s gospel from John depicts Jesus feeding the five thousand, multiplying the loaves and fishes to satisfy the physical hunger of the crowd. In today’s gospel from the same sixth chapter of John, Jesus offers to feed the crowd’s spiritual hunger as well. “I am the bread of life,” he says, “whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Jesus for the first time introduces a “wonder” bread without parallel, the all time best thing to come along both before and since sliced bread – himself.
Jesus uses the bread metaphor to proclaim that God the Father offers us eternal life at this very moment through the real presence of God the Son. The kingdom Jesus promises feeds our hunger for relationship with God – a hunger humans have felt since the dawn of creation. “If you truly want communion with God,” Jesus says in effect, “then fill up on me. Feed on me, for I am the life-sustaining bread you long for.”
John’s account underpins the meaning of every Mass we celebrate together. When we eat the bread and drink the cup we participate in the life of the Risen Christ. Jesus is given to us completely as food for body and soul, to satisfy humanity’s two basic hungers.
Paleontologists tell us that primitive peoples worshiped the forces of nature. From prehistoric to modern times people have craved connectedness to the sacred, for meaning to life. This is a deep-seeded human need, a craving of our souls that nothing on earth can satisfy. You and I are genetically programmed in such a way that we can never be really happy if we fail to nourish our souls as we do our bodies.
St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney, the Cure’ of Ars, in the 19th century said: “The soul hungers for God and nothing but God can satisfy it. Therefore God came down to dwell on earth and assumed a body in order that his body might become food for our souls.” The body of Christ then is the ultimate wonder bread; the consummate soul food!
Most religions, including our own, teach that a human being is made of body and soul. To be a wholesome and healthy person, body and soul must work in harmony. Body and soul working in harmony enables us to fulfill the mission for which we were put on earth – to lead a meaningful, productive, and virtuous life, centered on love of God and neighbor.
Young brothers and sisters recently graduated from high school, there’s nothing more beautiful than watching you preparing to go off to college next month to begin an exciting new life, as Gloria and I did with our own daughter, Kate, four years ago. And that’s the way it should be. It is an exciting time for you. The world is out there, just waiting for you to enjoy everything it has to offer.
But the day will come when you will discover that what the world has to offer will leave you hungrier and thirstier than you were before.
When we fail to nourish our spirit, life lacks meaning. Grief, disappointment, illness, anxiety, overwork, a sense of betrayal, failure, or purposelessness, can make it seem that just going on living is an effort scarcely worth making. We feel depressed, apathetic, bitter, with no sense of anything better, and perhaps even suicidal.
Many people today spend considerable time, effort, and money tending to their physical needs, but precious little time and effort attending to their spiritual needs. That’s unfortunate because the consequences of neglecting our souls are just as stark, perhaps even more so, as the consequences of neglecting our bodies. How do we nourish our souls? Here are a few suggestions:
Cultivate loving relationships.
Spend quiet time with the Lord every day in prayer or meditation.
Read the bible or other inspirational literature.
Reach out to those in need, especially the weakest and most vulnerable.
Attend Mass and receive the Eucharist frequently.
Luxuriate in the beauty of moments that don’t last -- a sunset, leaves turning color, a child giggling in delight, rare occasions of true human communication.
Walk barefoot on grass.
View mealtimes as opportunities for savoring foods and relationships, rather than as pitstops for refueling.
Being in God’s presence isn’t so much about being in the right place, as it is about doing the right things. Being spiritually attuned is an attitude, an openness to possibility Any way you slice it, eating the Bread of Life is good for body and soul. Consuming it regularly combined with daily exercise of gospel values is guaranteed to produce results that are out of this world. Those who follow this simple regimen will experience “wonder” unsurpassed by anything on earth. A skyful of colorful hot air balloons on a beautiful summer day pales in comparison.
Anthony J. Sciolino
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
August 3, 2003 (Cycle B)
Exodus 16:2-4. 12-15/113
Ephesians 4:17, 20-24
John 6:24-35.