5 May 2025 - bread stuck

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

This reminds us of children we have known, perhaps ourselves, whose primary motivation for attending mass, aside from parental command, was to indulge in the donuts offered after. That this is a problematic motivation is not subtle. But as we grow we become increasing adept at self-deception. We learn, perhaps slowly, that donuts are not the ultimate good for which we were made, that they can only provide fleeting and occasional happiness. But we don't necessarily start to work "for that food that endures for eternal life" exclusively. There are many other goods that are tangential or adjacent to religion that are easy to confuse with seeking God himself. We may come seeking to be entertained or to be near like minded people. We may desire to feel warm fuzzies that are something more banal and self-created than true spiritual consolation. What demarcates these things as food that perishes is precisely the fact that there is no real possibility for consistent upward growth. If we seek to be entertained, there are better options than the best homilist. If we seek like minded people, it may be much easier to find them on social media, or by joining a special interest group. If what was desire is good feeling there are many ways this can be manufactured more consistently than by a mass. But the more we invest ourselves in any pursuit over than the "food that endures" the more we will discover its inability to satisfy us.

Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.

We tend to make a habit of drinking the water that will leave us thirsty again, rather than the living water offered by Jesus. We tend to prefer food that perishes, just because it is more readily available. Or so it seems. It is true that earthly things are definitely more subject to our control and manipulation, easier to summon forth in moments of need. Spiritual food transcends these earthly things and is not subject to childish whims. Like Jesus himself it is unpredictable to the earth directed mind, unpredictable in its coming and its going. As to Jesus, so too to the bread he offers do earthly people say, "Rabbi, when did you get here?". But it is possible for us to continue on the upward trajectory that may have started with donuts to seek with ever greater sincerity Jesus himself, and the bread that he gives. This means not getting stuck at the level of satisfying our impulses, but instead being guided by the signs with which Jesus manifests himself. It means not using our base desires as a key to understand Christianity but rather allowing Jesus himself to be our key. He is designated as the only one able to perform this role by the seal with which the Father, God, has healed him.

So they said to him,
"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."

It seemed that they were beginning to realize the way in which their previous goals fell short. But they were still looking for an option that was in their purview or power. There was a way in which it was not a bad question, since the ultimate answer would needs be defined by God himself, since there were real works demanded of them. But the answer Jesus actually gave was almost frustratingly simple for those seeking a direct route to an imminent goal. 'Believe in Jesus? But what will that do?', they may well have wondered. Yet we at least ought to know the answer. Belief in Jesus leads to freedom from the tyranny of earthly and perishable things. It leads to eternal life, even to participation here and now in the life of God. It is from this belief that we have the basis for any works of true value; the faith, the hope, and the love, we need to truly accomplish the works of God.

Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me.

Jaime Thietten - I Am The Bread Of Life