Too often we blame God for what he does not give us, instead of thanking him for what he does give us. At the beginning of time, Satan sowed suspicion about God, making him appear as a tyrant and a killjoy: "God is a tyrant and a killjoy.He said to the woman, 'So God has told you not to eat of any tree in the garden?'" (Gen 3:1). Adam and Eve fell into their trap, allowing themselves to doubt God, and that suspicion has entered us through original sin. That is why, in today's first reading, the people complain when they seem to lack bread and meat, and do not take into account that the God who had so extraordinarily saved them from slavery in Egypt could also have thought of how to feed them in the desert. Indeed, God provides them with the miraculous bread of manna. Shortly thereafter he will give them meat, causing a migratory flock of quail to land - tired and weak - right there in the desert to satisfy the people's craving for meat.
But if we reduce God to a food delivery service - and then complain when, from time to time, He doesn't seem to deliver - we lose a lot. We try to satisfy our body, but we fail to satisfy the far more important needs of our soul. And this is what Jesus is trying to teach people in today's Gospel. After having enjoyed a feast of bread provided by him, people want another one. But our Lord has to tell them: "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you have seen signs, but because you have eaten bread to your fill. Labor not for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give you; for him the Father, God, has sealed.".
We can reduce Christianity to its material benefits. A feast becomes a mere excuse to eat well, or even, as we see - alas - in the case of some popular feasts, to drink to excess. It is not fasted for love of God, but as an act of vain dietetics. People insist on seeking material bread. Jesus offers them a much greater bread, the bread from heaven, which happens to be both his word in Scripture and his body in the Eucharist. This bread alone gives us eternal life. When we give priority to our bodily desires, we will never be satisfied. When, instead, we desire God's spiritual food, we enjoy the material food more and find spiritual meaning, and even joy, when it is lacking.
Homily on the readings of the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
