6th Sunday after Pentecost 5.7.15 Souls and bodies
The Lord feeds the soul and not just the body. Many are happy to stay with the body and can think only in those terms: seeking pleasure etc.
In John’s Gospel account of this miracle (Jn 6) Our Lord escaped the crowd because they wanted to make Him king. He did not want them to see the miracle simply in physical terms - free food.
He did want to be their king but only in the full sense of what that would mean.
This miracle foreshadows the Eucharist. It is recorded in the Gospel so that future generations will understand the deeper meaning. So what does it mean?
Our Lord has brought bread that will satisfy; such that if we eat this bread we will never die (Jn 6,50).
He is asking us to understand something that we are inclined to forget or deny: that we are spiritual beings, not just bodies but souls.
And the soul has needs that might not be met, especially if people don’t even know they have a soul.
The world at the moment shows forth an even greater than usual insanity, engaging in physical and moral violence, tearing down traditional values. With a riotous self-indulgence, man asserts himself against God, denying His existence, yet hating Him too!
All of this is following the demonic pattern whereby the creature turns against the Creator; the inferior against the superior – as though we do not need the Creator.
But we do need Him even for the physical domain, such as food. And even more we need Him for the spiritual domain.
Without Him we have no meaning, no direction. We owe Him everything – praise, thanks, obedience, adoration.
Not only do we owe these things as a kind of debt, but it is a need within us to do them. It is something built into us by the Creator; something that we yearn for.
We are made for this: to know, love, and serve God - not just impersonally, but in complete union with Him.
It is a command to do these things, but it is also a desire. You shall want to love Him – more of a prediction than a command.
When we have muddled through enough of life and see the futility of all the wrong turnings, we understand that to love God is the right way forward.
Any ambition we might have – for marriage or career or achievement – any and every desire comes second to this one – to love God with all our heart, mind and soul.
Many people don’t know they have this desire, and many would deny it vigorously, but it is still a deep need within them. It is a hunger which ordinary bread, or any worldly pleasure, cannot satisfy.
The Eucharist feeds the hunger by enabling us to know, love and serve God, which in turn makes us happier. It is not the immediate happiness such as would result from ripping into a favourite snack. It is more subtle, working more slowly, but much better for the spirit.
We who do know we have souls are also tempted to put the physical first and the spiritual on hold. And we are tempted to stay with vague notions of God.
Instead we must go deeper, and not be afraid of greater commitment. When we know Him better we will want all the more to serve Him.
We can take it on His word that we do need Him, and He wants to give Himself; but we have to let Him do that; not to be permanently absorbed in the physical.
We are made for something greater; we are souls as well as bodies. With His help may we understand and reach our destiny.
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