When a severely wounded soldier was out of surgery, the doctors said that there was a good chance for recovery, except that the soldier wouldn’t eat anything. The nurses tried everything, but he refused all food, drinking only water and juice. He was homesick.
Since the hospital wasn’t too far from the soldier’s home, the young man’s father went to visit him. As the father was about to leave for the hospital, the mother wrapped up a loaf of fresh bread for her son. The patient was very happy to see his father but he still wouldn’t eat, until the father said: “Son, this bread was made by your mother, especially for you”. The boy brightened and began to eat.
You and I are like that young soldier. We are the ones who have been wounded in the battle of life. We are the ones who’ve been wounded by sin, by trials and pains, by loss and by our forgetfulness of God.
Jesus knew this when he multiplied the loaves and fish in today’s Gospel (John 6:1-15). He was not just feeding the hungry people who followed him then. Jesus is still feeding the hungry and the wounded who come to him today.
We lose our taste for the food that will strengthen our souls. Holy Communion gives us life, spiritual life, God’s life. It gives us spiritual healing and spiritual strength. There was nothing magic” about the mother’s bread unless, that is, one feels that “love” is magic, “which, of course, it is.
Who can you offer The Bread of Life to in this coming week?
OUR WORLD IS BEAUTIFUL! MY HEART IS LIGHT! THANK YOU GOD FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL LIFE!!
