August 4, 2024
Jesus is a man of the ‘I’ word – and not in a boastful way.
He speaks of the bread in the desert, the manna which nourished the people in their wanderings. He builds on their belief in a bread from heaven, but now that he himself is the bread.
The bread gives life to the soul.
He is this bread.
Our Christian faith is centred on a ‘person’, not on a book. The gospel is the book of life because it is the book of Jesus. Jesus is our life because he comes from God. So we call this at times the bread of heaven.
What more ordinary ways can heaven and earth be linked than in the most ordinary of foods? In another country he might have said he is the ‘rice’ of life. It means that in the ordinary events of our lives, God is very near in Jesus. He makes his home in us as the bread we eat becomes part of us.
The same with love – our faith links always human and divine love, and human love of all sorts is a share in the divine life of love. Can we really believe this? That the next time you really love your child, your friend, your spouse or anyone in your love-life, you are bringing them a bit of God!
That is one of the main reasons why we want to live in love. That we link heaven and earth, divinity and humanity, Jesus and ourselves.
Then the ‘I’ of Jesus becomes the ‘we’ of his earthly body and presence now.
Breathing in and out –
let the word ‘love’ echo in your mind and heart
on the inbreath and the outbreath.
Lord, thy kingdom come!
