John 6:44-51 NRSVue

⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

“Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”

Some thoughts on this scripture

Reflection
Lord, you are starting to open to me what the Eucharist can mean: a pledge of eternal life, and nourishment for my daily journey, as well as the viaticum that will strengthen me for my last journey, to you.

Reflection
We live two lives - the flesh and the spirit, earthly and eternal. Faith in God is life-giving. It gives energy to the everyday, to the commonplace. The struggle to do good and to live a gospel-centred life is nourished by our faith. Prayer is a time to be aware of the life which is eternal. Moments of prayer bring us in touch with the eternal within us, and the eternal around us, the atmosphere of the risen Christ.

Reflection
Jesus lives in the shadow of eternity and calls on our faith that we will live forever. The call of love and the experience of love in life hints at something more than human, of a mystery totally linked to God. The bread of life is the gift of God's life on earth. In opening ourselves to the word of God and the bread of God we are gifted and graced with the love that lasts forever.

Reflection
We were created for nothing in this world. Jesus is constantly pointing us beyond this world to the Father, promising to 'raise us up on the last day', offering us eternal life. All this is our destiny. It is not some kind of 'reward' for this life, added on, but organically linked to this life and how we live now. We grow towards this new way of living through Jesus.

Reflection
We watch Jesus gradually inviting his hearers to understand what he means by saying that he is the bread of life. First, he opens them up to awareness of their need. Then he offers himself. Am I self-sufficient or do I know my need? Do I hunger for this bread?

Reflection
As blessed as the people in the desert were, even greater blessings are offered to me. I am accompanied on the pilgrimage of my life by the one who feeds me with living bread.