God gave them bread from heaven
Following is the prepared text from Bishop Olmsted’s homily for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
The Mystery of the Eucharist is robustly biblical. It is deeply rooted in Sacred Scripture and the History of Salvation. In the Old Testament, God is preparing His people for the gift of Himself at the Last Supper. We see this in today’s first reading, Exodus 16, which tells how God fed His people manna on their journey to freedom in the Promised Land. Four things about the manna foreshadow and help us to understand this great gift of the Eucharist.
First, manna is miraculous bread from heaven, given by the Lord Himself. God tells Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” Manna was not ordinary bread. It was heavenly bread given by the Lord Himself and provided anew every day. Our Responsorial Psalm today, Psalm 78, affirms this great blessing as it says, “Man ate the bread of angels.” This great mystery, foretold in the Old Testament and fulfilled by Jesus in the New, is captured in the beautiful Hymn written by St. Thomas Aquinas, “Panis Angelicus.”
Second, not only did God give them bread from heaven, but He also gave them flesh from heaven. The Lord tells Moses (Ex 16:12), “In the morning you shall be filled with bread [and] at twilight you shall eat flesh.” In the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus explains that the flesh from heaven He will give is the gift of Himself in the Eucharist. Listen again to Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel passage, “…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”
Third, in addition to eating the miraculous bread and flesh from heaven, the Israelites also preserved it in a Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was a portable Temple to hold the Bread of Angels, i.e., manna. They learned by this practice that the manna was not only miraculous bread to eat but also something so holy that it was stored in the Holy of Holies, along with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, to be given due honor and worship.
Fourth, the manna had a distinctive flavor. In Exodus 16:31, we are told that it tasted like “wafers made from honey.” In other words, it gave the people a foretaste of the Promised Land, a “land flowing with milk and honey.”
At each celebration of the Eucharist, you and I are one with the angels and saints in heaven praising God and looking forward to the life of the world to come. How fitting it is, then, during Holy Communion, to sing the words of Psalm 34 vs. 8, “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.” As we see, God’s gift of manna, the miraculous bread from heaven, still helps us today to understand and to stand in awe and wonder at the gift of the Eucharist.
Let us briefly turn our attention, now, to today’s Gospel passage, taken from the longest chapter in the New Testament, John 6. All of chapter 6 is focused on the mystery of the Eucharist, the Bread of Life. Last Sunday, today and the next three Sundays, the Gospel passage is taken from the 71 verses of this 6th chapter of John.
In today’s passage, John 6:24-35, Jesus begins to explain how God’s prophetic actions through Moses and the manna are now beginning to be fulfilled.
The crowd says to Jesus, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? …Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Prompted by this question from the crowd, Jesus begins His discourse on the Bread of Life, hoping to draw their attention beyond the prophetic acts and words of the past to what is happening at that moment. Jesus says, “…it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Jesus here is connecting the dots between the bread come down from heaven and Himself, who came down from heaven to bring life to the world. Then, Jesus lifts the conversation to a whole new level as He says to them, “I am the bread of life.” With these words, Jesus begins to speak plainly of the wondrous mystery of His own Person.
Jesus presents Himself as the bread of life, that is as the Father’s Beloved Son who gives sustenance and life to all who believe in Him. This gift of Himself is so extraordinary, so divine yet human, that Jesus makes the claim, “Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
The Eucharist is so “great a mystery of faith,” we can only begin to understand it by faith and can approach it only through humility and love, “down in adoration falling.” Even the greatest theologian, or the holiest saint can honestly say of their best effort to explain the Eucharist, “But what is this?” “Manna?” Jesus in the Eucharist is a mystery beyond words. He is a many-splendored reality of merciful love.
That is why millions of us celebrate Mass every day, and why many spend an hour in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, each week or even daily. Nothing so expands our soul and inspires our heart with awe and amazement as spending time with Jesus in the Eucharist, listening to His words and receiving the gift of Himself. At this Holy Mass, some of you joining us on television, radio or the INTERNET may have questions about the Eucharist or other questions troubling your soul or weighing down your heart. Some of you may be going through transitions, which arouse anxieties and fears. Do not hesitate to bring these with trust to Jesus in the Eucharist. Ask Him, “What do you want of me, O Lord?” And like a child, tell Him, “I adore you, I love you, Do with me what you will.” In and with Christ, the Bread of life, taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
