Feeding on the Bread of Life

Preaching and Praying John 6

Anthony Oelrich

LITURGICAL PRESS Collegeville, Minnesota

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Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 1998, 1997, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Other Scripture texts are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America copyright © 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.—Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.—Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

© 2014 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, microfiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or by any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint John’s Abbey, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Oelrich, Anthony. Feeding on the bread of life : preaching and praying John 6 / Anthony Oelrich. pages cm includes bibliographical references. iSBN 978-0-8146-3716-6 — ISBN 978-0-8146-3741-8 (ebook) 1. Bible. John VI—Commentaries. 2. Lord’s Supper—Catholic Church. i. Title.

BS2615.53.O35 2014 226.5'06—dc23 2014015154 I would like to dedicate this small reflection on Jesus, the Bread of Life, to all the people of the parishes with whom I have had the privilege of sharing the word of God through preaching. Their lives of faith and their desire for God have always challenged and encouraged me.

Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Multiplication of the Loaves (John 6:1-15) 7

Chapter 2 Doing the Works of God (John 6:24-35) 21

Chapter 3 Bread Come Down from Heaven (John 6:41-51) 37

Chapter 4 Bread of Eternal Life (John 6:51-58) 53

Chapter 5 Words of Eternal Life (John 6:60-69) 69 Further Readings 85 Notes 87

vii

Introduction

In Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Crossing, about the wanderings of a young man from his home in New Mexico into the stark and often hostile land of Mexico, there is a striking scene describing ordinary hospitality and its ef- fects. After riding for many days without meeting another person and without food, the novel’s chief protagonist, Billy Parham, wanders into what appears to be an aban- doned, desolate little village. Seemingly from nowhere, a young boy approaches him, takes the reins of his horse, and guides him into the courtyard of a small villa. The family there provides Billy with his first meal in days and gives him a bed for the night, the first he has slept in for many months. The next morning he discovers breakfast prepared for him, which he eats alone because everyone else has already left the house. He searches for someone to thank. Finding no one, he looks for something to write on. Not finding any paper, he discovers flour in a kitchen cabinet. Dusting it on the table, he uses his finger to write his thanks in it. McCarthy poignantly describes the transformed condition of the young man after the care he has received. He leaves the town: “Riding like a young squire

1 2 Feeding on the Bread of Life for all his rags. Carrying in his belly the gift of the meal he’d received which both sustained him and laid claim upon him. For the sharing of bread is not such a simple thing nor is its acknowledgement. Whatever thanks be given, however spoken or written down.”1 In a beautiful way, this story illustrates what the Chris- tian tradition has experienced in the gathering Sunday by Sunday at the eucharistic table. There in the gifts of bread and wine, transformed for us into the very presence and person of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we are both sustained for our daily lives and encounter a claim placed on our lives by the divine gifts. In the Eucharist, just as words written in flour became Billy’s thanks, the gift of divine bread becomes our thanksgiving. Perhaps this explains in a certain way the church’s desire, and need even, to reflect frequently and deeply on the reality of the gift of bread, in particular on the person of Jesus who describes himself as bread. The reflection on this reality takes place in a particular way every three years, in Year B of the Sunday Lectionary cycle, when we interrupt Mark’s gospel just as he begins to tell the story of the multiplication of the loaves. We turn for five weeks to the Gospel of John and reflect on the eucharistic implications and significations of that miracle of bread. The literary style encountered in John’s gospel is unique when compared to the Synoptic Gospels of Mat- thew, Mark, and Luke. This unique literary style is par- ticularly true of the discourses found in his gospel. The method of teaching encountered there is much like that found in the modern philosophy of phenomenology. In Introduction 3 the discourses, we find Jesus leading his listeners around a topic, over and over again, in a repetitive manner. The circling, however, is meant to create a corkscrew effect. As we circle the realities of bread and eating, believing and seeing, looking here and then there again, we burrow down into the reality more and more deeply. As with the corkscrew, so too with Jesus’ teaching, the repetitive circling serves to lift upward the reality being pierced. This circular approach gives John’s gospel its distinctly meditative style that invites us to dwell in the mystery we are being challenged to embrace and live. Jesus, in John, repeatedly calls his disciples to “remain” in the word: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you” (15:7). “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love” (15:9). And on it goes, some twelve times in the fifteenth chapter of John’s gospel alone, Jesus invites us to remain with him. The very style found in the bread of life discourse invites this same remaining. We will, over the course of the five weeks in the middle of Ordinary Time in Year B, hear again and again about seeing and not seeing, eating and believing, manna and bread, challenged as we do to discover in Christ Jesus all we hunger for and thirst after. It is both this call to remain with the Word and the repetitive, circular style of John that motivate this small book of biblical exegesis and reflections on the five Sun- day gospel readings from chapter 6 of John’s gospel. John has a way like no other to draw us into the mystery of Christ. He has crafted the discourses to encourage deep reflection. The discourses, therefore, call the reader to 4 Feeding on the Bread of Life remain with the reality at the center of the discourse. John 6 draws the reader and the hearer to ponder Jesus, the Bread of Life, as a multivalent reality that possesses texture, complexity, and layers that can be appreciated only as mystery. Some thoughts on that word mystery might be use- ful. In contemporary usage, mystery has come to mean a really difficult problem. If a child comes to a parent with a question about God that the parent finds hard to answer, the quick response will be to say something like, “Well, that is a mystery.” Which is really to say, “That is a tough question and I have no idea how to respond, so please, let us not bring it up again.” In this sense, mystery for many people means something that is unknowable, a really big problem. In reality, though, mystery is something that couldn’t be further from unknowable. Mystery is, in fact, a reality that is infinitely knowable. Saint Paul poetically expresses this knowability of mystery: “In all wisdom and insight, [God] has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth” (Eph 1:8-10). Notice terms like fullness and all things, and in heaven and on earth. God makes himself and realities connected to him accessible to us, but God remains God, which is to say, infinitely transcendent even as he is infinitely immanent. God is one to be known, and endlessly so. Mystery is a reality to be drawn into, to remain in, so as to move further and further into its depths. Introduction 5 My hope for the chapters ahead, one for each of the five weeks that John 6 appears in the Sunday Lectionary, is to help us remain with the mystery of Jesus, the Bread of Life. What is presented here is meant to serve as the side dishes of a fine banquet that surround the spectacular main entrée, which is nothing less than Jesus Christ, the Word of eternal life. These side dishes of exegesis and reflection are meant to draw out for those who pray and preach the rich flavors of John’s bread of life discourse. I hope what one encounters here are not my words, food that perishes, but the Word made flesh: food that endures for eternal life. Concretely, these side dishes consist, first of all, of an introduction to the passage from John 6 given for the particular Sunday. The aim will be to draw out the most prominent themes from the part of the discourse presented on that Sunday. This drawing out will be done with a brief look at the first reading and the psalm assigned for the liturgy of that same Sunday. Though this will not limit the discussion at hand, those who assembled the Lection- ary selected the first reading to shed light on the gospel. I will do my best to let that light so shine. Next, I will provide by means of exegesis some clari- fying points. Anyone who meditatively reads Scripture will encounter certain images, words, turns of phrase that are striking, or persons and places mentioned that invite a more direct introduction. The exegetical section will strive to clarify John’s unique use of vocabulary, images, phrases, places, and persons, and this in as nontechnical a way as possible. These clarifications will hopefully bring a greater liveliness through accessibility to the passage. 6 Feeding on the Bread of Life Finally, I will offer three reflections on the passage from the discourse. These will be distinct, though having in common, obviously, the same gospel passage. My inten- tion with these reflections is to stir the imagination of the reader. They are intended to serve as doors that open both into Jesus’ bread of life discourse and out to the personal experience of each reader. Ultimately, I hope this small book might help draw out the truly sustaining nature of a living relationship with Jesus, the Bread of Life, and help to reveal more deeply still the profound claim placed on us by this gift of the Bread. Chapter 1

The Multiplication of the Loaves

John 6:1-15

1 Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. 2 a large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 the Jewish feast of Passover was near. 5 When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” 6 he said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.”

7 8 Feeding on the Bread of Life 8 one of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 11 then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. 12 When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. 14 When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” 15 Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone. The Multiplication of the Loaves 9 Introduction The multiplication of the loaves is the only miracle of Jesus recorded in all four canonical gospels. Distinctively, John’s presentation of this miracle places it within the context of the Jewish feast of Passover. Jesus going up the mountain to teach and the crowd’s strong declaration that Jesus is “the Prophet” inclines our thoughts concerning the bread being offered by Christ, indeed his very self, as the new Torah, the new Law, the true word of life that comes from the God whom Jesus calls his Father. This theme highlighting the bread as true wisdom and Word will reveal itself throughout the gospel passages of the next five weeks. When John says starkly, “The Jewish feast of Passover was near” (v. 4), he is providing an orientation from which to read the discourse that should be kept in mind throughout one’s reflection on these gospel passages. Indeed, the whole discourse culminates in the proclamation of faith by St. Peter, who says to Christ, “You have the words of eternal life” (6:68). The first reading for the liturgy of this Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year B tells the story of the prophet Elisha, who, in the midst of a famine, provides food for a hundred people from twenty barley loaves (2 Kgs 4:42-44). Tellingly, this passage follows directly on the story of a gathering, again in the midst of this same famine, of the guild prophets who serve a meal that turns out to be poisonous (2 Kgs 4:38-41). Elisha “doctors up” the stew and it is no longer harmful to eat. This powerful story serves to warn the readers against 10 Feeding on the Bread of Life the poisonous words of false prophets. The true prophet of God alone provides nourishment for God’s people. God’s word, in the passage selected to complement the gospel, reveals God as the source of teaching that truly feeds his people in days of famine. It is important to see in the bread of multiplication, the living Word that feeds us for our journey with God in the midst of his people in this world. Still, we must go deeper into the reality of this “word” being multiplied. Indeed, this going deeper is the essence of what these five weeks in the heart of the summer are meant to do for us. These weeks afford us the time and space to linger over and plunge down deeply into the truth of the Word. “Christianity,” after all, “is the religion of the ‘Word’ of God, a word which is ‘not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living.’ ”1 In this description of Word as person we begin to see the profound connection that exists between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Word encountered first in proclamation is meant to draw us into an encounter in communion with the Person-Word, sacramentally effected in the Eucharist. The response to the psalm for this liturgy (145:10-11, 15-18) helps to point us into this direction of plunging deeply into the word multiplied. “The hand of the Lord feeds us,” which might be a simple and superficial satisfaction of physical hunger and, indeed, many of those who experience this miracle see it in just this way. But the psalm response encourages us onward; the Lord “answers all our needs”; this bread moves deeply and profoundly to The Multiplication of the Loaves 11 reach us in the deepest recesses of our thoughts, emotions, and spiritual longings. We must open ourselves up profoundly. In these weeks ahead, we will encounter the “words of eternal life” (John 6:68), the living Word that satisfies the deepest longings of the human heart and draws us into communion with “the Holy One of God” (6:69).

Exegesis Verse 2 signs : This central word of John’s gospel refers to acts or works of Christ that are meant to draw one into faith and divine life. Indeed, all signs have, for John, the single purpose of drawing his readers to faith in Jesus Christ. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name” (20:30-31). saw: For John, faith is a way of seeing. Here, as throughout the bread of life discourse, the reader is challenged to reflect each time a form of the verb “to see” is used, on whether those encountering the sign have really seen the depth of meaning or simply the surface reality. 3 Jesus went up on a mountain: Here, as throughout, allusion is made to the figure of Moses, who ascended 12 Feeding on the Bread of Life the mountain to receive the Torah, the Law of God, for the people of God. Jesus will provide true bread, the Law that offers eternal life. Indeed, as will be unfolded for us throughout the discourse, Jesus himself is the Law. he sat down: The position of a teacher imparting knowledge. 4 Passover : Only John mentions the Passover in connection with the multiplication account. This connection serves to place Jesus in the light of a Mosaic figure and begins to relate the coming provision of bread to the manna in the wilderness. 6 he himself knew what he was going to do: Jesus as the glorious and heavenly figure, the Word who is with God before creation and who is God now made flesh and dwelling in the midst of us, is in need of nothing and stands clearly as the one who presides over all things. The question, therefore, is intended to draw out a faith response from Philip. 7 Philip’s response, rather, serves only to amplify the magnitude of the problem. 8 a ndrew, as he does elsewhere in John’s gospel (1:42; 12:22), introduces someone, here the boy with the loaves and fish, to Jesus. 9 barley loaves: Only John mentions that the bread is made of barley, pointing to a miracle of multiplication in the fourth chapter of 2 Kings. The Multiplication of the Loaves 13

what good are these for so many: Andrew exemplifies a mentality of scarcity that stands in stark contrast to the abundance of life that faith in Christ opens to the human person. 10 great deal of grass: In whatever way John wants to al- lude to the wilderness scene, clearly this “wilderness” is different. We have here a new Moses, a greater gift, and a more life-giving manifestation. Jesus is, certainly, the Good Shepherd who leads his flock into “green pastures” (Ps 23:2). 11 took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them: A referral to the key gestures of the eucharistic liturgy. Note that, unlike in the Synoptic accounts, Jesus distributes the abundant bread himself. Jesus alone is the shepherd who feeds his flock. 12 Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted: This bread is precious. The careful attention to the fragments left over is a likely allusion to the early Christian communities’ care for the eucharistic bread. Each word of Christ is also to be gathered and treasured, for Jesus’ words are eternal life (6:68). 13 twelve wicker baskets . . . more than they could eat: From the small and clearly inadequate contribution of the boy, Jesus provides an abundance, “more than” enough. Indeed, an ample enough amount is left over to feed the whole people of God, the twelve tribes of Israel. 14 Feeding on the Bread of Life

14 This is truly the Prophet: Here the crowd sees and interprets the multiplication sign, at least on a certain level, correctly. Moses’ promise of the coming prophet (Deut 18:15-18) is fulfilled in Jesus who gives the bread of life. John’s connection of this event with Moses gives a strong symbolic indication to the bread as Word, teaching, and new Law. 15 they were going to come and carry him off to make him king: The full-depth seeing of the sign has clearly not happened. The crowd is taken up with the immedi- ate and temporal while Jesus’ action concerns what is ultimate and eternal. he withdrew again to the mountain alone: Again as Moses (Exod 24:15), Jesus goes up the mountain alone, emphasizing the revelatory nature of Jesus’ action. The mountain is the place of the revelation of the covenant Law.

Reflections Recognizing Our Hungers and Thirsts In the course of Year B, the year we follow in the Sun- day Lectionary the Gospel of Mark, we interrupt Mark’s telling of the story of Jesus and insert for five weeks selec- tions from the sixth chapter of John’s gospel, commonly called the bread of life discourse. Mark’s narrative is interrupted at the very point he reports the same miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish we have just read from John’s gospel. In The Multiplication of the Loaves 15 the gospel of the previous week, Mark tells us that Jesus invites his disciples to “Come away . . . and rest” (Mark 6:31). People had been pressing in on the disciples in great numbers and they had no opportunity, Mark told us, even so much as to stop for a bite to eat. From Mark we get a sense that this sign of the multiplication of the loaves is done in the context of fatigue and physical hunger. Now here in John, we see that the disciples are also feeling a scarcity of resources: “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough / for each of them to have a little” (v. 7). Overwhelmed, tired, and hungry . . . this is the condition we find the disciples in. We know this story so well. Into the scarcity of bread, Jesus provides an abundance and all are satisfied. Jesus shows himself to be the one who satisfies our deepest hungers and our greatest thirsts. What are the hungers that drive our lives? What do we thirst for and expend energy in quenching? Where do we feel inadequate, that our resources do not measure up to the demands placed on us or the expectations we ourselves have for life? These are important realities to reflect on. The deep, existential hungers of our lives drive us in so many direc- tions. If we are not conscious of them or leave them unat- tended, they can drive us in many harmful, destructive ways. Attempting to fill the infinite longing of the human heart, people overeat, overwork, grasp greedily for more of just anything. From that deepest of all longings, the longing to be loved, lovers demand too much of the other, 16 Feeding on the Bread of Life become bitter when the other is not able to fulfill the need for absolute love, and this can give rise to jealousy and, sometimes, violence. It isn’t too much to say, even, that the enormous disparity in our world between those who have too much and those who have far too little flows from the unchecked hungers for satisfaction that shape so much of our economics. The advertising industry spends billions of dollars to fan into flame these hungers with promises to satisfy them, all the while deeply invested, not in their satisfaction, but in their growth and amplification. Our economic culture aims for insatiability. The greatest hungers of our lives, which Jesus seeks repeatedly to reveal to us, are such that only what is ultimate can finally satisfy them. Unaware of the infinite nature of our hungers, a consumeristic society will promise to fill us with what is only and always finite and, because finite, never able to finally satisfy our true longing for bread. In the weeks ahead, as we reflect together on the bread of life discourse from John’s gospel, we will encounter in the crowd people who seek their ultimate satisfaction in the promise of political power, false spirituality, and simply having their most superficial human desires satiated. Jesus, in his turn, will persistently attempt to point to the substantial food truly capable of nourishing authentic, full life. He will point us to his teaching as the way to authentic fulfillment and, indeed, to abiding relationship with him where we find the love for which we are made. The Multiplication of the Loaves 17 Reading the Signs of Jesus in Our Lives John tells us the crowd is following after Jesus because of the “signs” they have seen him perform. This reality of “signs” is very important to John and his gospel. Some biblical scholars identify seven central signs John shows Jesus performing. Along with the multiplication of the loaves, there is the miracle of the water to wine at Cana (2:1-11), the healing at a distance also at Cana (4:46-54), the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda (5:1-18), the walking on water (6:16-21), the curing of the man born blind (9:1-41), and the raising of Lazarus from the dead (11:1-44). As John says at the end of his gospel, all these signs “are written that [we] may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief [we] may have life in his name” (20:31). When Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fish, people are meant to see this sign pointing to Jesus who is the Bread of Life, the one for whom we hunger and thirst. Even on a superficial level, food as a metaphor for our relationship with God is initially transparent and telling. Even John admits, again at the end of his gospel, that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples that are not written in this book” (20:30). Jesus still performs signs in our lives that reveal the truth of who he is and help us to believe in him as the Son of God. Per- haps a very good place to begin our five Sundays with the bread of life discourse is to reflect on our own lives. What “signs” has Christ worked in my life? Where have I wit- nessed Jesus acting in my life? Is there a particular person 18 Feeding on the Bread of Life who has communicated faith in Jesus Christ to me? Was there ever a time in my life when I was faced with a dif- ficulty and, somehow, God provided, God came through? Have I experienced a time when there wasn’t enough of something—time, financial resources, energy, love, courage, strength—to accomplish what needed to be accomplished and, yet, God drew me through it and gave me what I needed? How have these “signs,” these experiences, drawn me into faith as a living relationship of trust in Jesus, Mes- siah and Son of God? Or, what has led me into a living relationship with Jesus? How is it that I have a real trust, a profound confidence, in God’s saving providence in my life? Do I have this relationship of trust and confidence in God? This living relationship is what Jesus is about in the multiplication of the loaves in today’s gospel. This relationship is what he is about in your life and mine in one way or another. Jesus seeks to draw us into a deep aware- ness of the providential love and care of God for us. As we spend these next few weeks with Jesus, his disciples, and the crowd in reflecting on the multiplication of the loaves, let us ask for an awakening to the signs present in our daily lives that are meant to serve as ways to faith, relationship, and trust in Jesus. The Gift of Encountering Jesus, the Bread of Life One of the great personalities of John’s gospel is An- drew. I suppose his greatest claim to fame is that he is the brother of Simon Peter, the rock on whom Jesus built his church. But if you remember, at least as John recalls it, Andrew was ahead of Peter on the discipleship thing. The Multiplication of the Loaves 19 Remember, early in the gospel, Andrew and a friend, evidently disciples of John the Baptist, are with John when he points to Jesus passing by and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (1:29). Andrew and his friend take off after Jesus and spend the day with him. In the evening, Andrew comes running home, finds Peter, and tells him he has to meet this Jesus fellow. The next day, Andrew introduces Peter to Jesus and a dramatic friendship is born. This event highlights one of the great characteristics of Andrew. He introduces people to Jesus. Early on, as in the story just recalled, it is his brother Peter that Andrew introduces to Jesus (John 1:35-42). Later in the gospel, some Greek people come at the height of Jesus’ career, when the crowds are thick, and they can’t get to Jesus. Somehow they get Andrew’s attention, who then takes them and introduces them to Jesus (12:20-22). Finally, we have the introduction found in today’s reading. Looking about for something to eat, it is Andrew who spies the young lad with some bread and fish. Again, he introduces the boy to Jesus. Maybe Andrew’s presence in this gospel should remind us to pause and recall the person or people who are most responsible for introducing us to Jesus. Our parents, an aunt or uncle, some friend along the way, a priest or reli- gious. Who introduced me to Jesus? Perhaps more challenging, we might ask ourselves, Who have we introduced to Jesus? How has my encounter with Jesus motivated me to share Jesus with another person as Andrew’s did for him? The whole bread of life discourse will lead up to a powerful profession of faith on the part of St. Peter. After 20 Feeding on the Bread of Life others have turned away from Jesus because of his teaching, Peter says boldly to Christ, “You have the words of eternal life” (6:68). On one level, the bread Jesus offers is his words, his teaching about God and our lives in God. On the most profound level, however, the bread of life discourse is about the encounter with Jesus Christ who is the personal Bread of Life seeking to draw us into a communion of life and love with himself and his company of disciples. As we see in the reaction of the crowd to Jesus’ miracle of the multiplication, to encounter Jesus is to encounter the one who is “truly the Prophet” (6:14), the one who St. Peter will confess at the end of this discourse as the one possessing “words of eternal life” (6:68). You see, to encounter Jesus is to encounter one who can enlighten our hearts and minds to the plan of God for our lives and for the world. To know Jesus is to come to know the God who provides for the deepest hungers and thirsts of our hearts. To discover Jesus is to discover the truth about those hungers in our spirits and to come to know the one who alone can satisfy them. In these weeks ahead, we will be offered the gift of renewing the encounter with Jesus Christ, the bread for which we hunger and thirst. How wonderful to have ever been introduced to Jesus! How marvelous to be able to grow in the knowledge of his teaching and the experience of his love. What a great privilege to share this encounter and experience with the people we meet day to day.