𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐧 – 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

Dear Parishioners,

Grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with you! Today’s gospel is part of the lengthy bread of life discourse (John 6:24-59) which clarified the sign of the loaves and the fishes.

The crowds who pursued Jesus had followed after him, not because they were disciples who believed, i.e., who had seen the sign of (of the bread) with the perception of faith, but because they had been taken with the material and sensational nature of the signs. They came to be filled again with bread (a free meal) and Jesus offered to them instead the satisfying fullness of his teaching.

Perhaps some had come because they had seen in the sign of the bread an indication that the messianic age had come. Several Jewish documents (rabbinical midrashes, etc.) reflected the popular expectation that the Messiah would repeat the miracle of the Manna and effect a new exodus for the chosen people. Significantly, these hopes were attached to the feast of the Passover, and that explains the heightened anticipation and misconception of Jesus’ work by the crowds. To those who had hoped for a repeat performance of the Manna, Jesus spoke of non-perishable food “that remains unto life eternal (v. 29) and of real heavenly bread (v. 32). The Manna in the desert melted in the heat of the day, but the food of the son of man (v. 27) and the bread God gives (v.32) would never cease to fill them with blessings.”

For those who ate of the real bread, every human and spiritual hunger would be satisfied in full communion with God in life eternal..

Have an amazing Sunday and a blessed week!

God bless you.

𝑹𝒆𝒗. 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒔 𝑴𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒚