by Fr. John Martin Shimkus, O.S.B.

       In our gospel passage, Jesus speaks of himself as the living bread, the one who satisfies all hungers, the one whose flesh and blood give life to the whole world.  It’s an amazing claim, a claim that was questioned by those who first heard it.  “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.

     This claim of Jesus was preceded by the feeding of over 5,000 hungry people from a small quantity of food, just five barley loaves and two fish.  And what Jesus says and does in these gospel passages is repeated once more in every Eucharist: Jesus takes a few thin pieces of bread and a small quantity of wine, and with that he proceeds to feed his people with his own body, his own blood, with his very life, in every place in the world, today and every day.

     At least we claim that he does this.  But if it is true, does it not trouble us that in the midst of this enormous giving of himself, this miraculous feeding of the whole world by one man, there are so many who are still so hungry in so many ways?  That there are still so many who do not have food, who do not know peace, who do not experience love?  Might the people of our day ask the question, is this Eucharist of Jesus really everything that he says it is?  Is this living bread really enough to satisfy the hungers of our time?

     This is a real challenge to people of faith, but through our faith we also have an answer: There is Someone here with us, Someone within us who has fed us, and will now use us to feed the hungers of this world.  Even though I myself cannot provide food for everyone, the Christ in each of us teaches us to share the excess we have with those who have less – and so that if everyone did that there would be no hunger in this world.  Even though I myself cannot bring the world peace and justice, the Christ in each of us can make our own communities and our own work situations into places where people are treated with dignity and respect.  And even though I myself cannot heal the loneliness of each human soul, the Christ within each of us can reach out to those in our neighborhoods and families with the nourishment that only love can give.

     And so, as we hear the words of Jesus, “I am the living bread . . . that gives life to the world”, may we apply those words to ourselves.  May we realize by faith that this Eucharist, this living bread we receive, makes us God’s bread.  May we realize by faith that this Body of Christ, this “Corpus Christi” is who we are, that it empowers us to feed the world as we ourselves have been fed.

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