SIR, GIVE US THIS BREAD ALWAYS
Upon hearing the first reading, and after the personal experience of walking the Camino de Santiago, I can understand the temptation to murmur, as the people of Israel did in the desert. Let us keep in mind that “the path” is a metaphor for “life itself.” When walking and exhausting the body's strength, and not having comforts, the idea comes to mind that before we were better off, because we were comfortable. But in comfort there are no challenges. In comfort we already know what there is, everything is routine. It is also true that not all comfort was being well, sometimes we simply live by quietly accepting the circumstances because we have adapted, and we do not even consider the change. This is how the people of Israel were in Egypt: slaves, without waiting for something new.
That murmuring of the people in the desert was because they felt hungry, and saw their existence threatened. And hunger is a very human reality. It is such a basic need that we simply cannot live without food. While in the first reading Moses points out manna as the bread that God provides for the well-being of the body, in the Gospel Jesus calls himself “the bread of life”, the true bread that came down from heaven, and whoever eats this bread will live forever.
Jesus offers himself as food to achieve eternal life. He comes to us to calm human anxieties and fears, to give answers to doubts, to console our broken and sad humanity. He confirms to us once again that "who comes to him will not hunger and who believes in him will never thirst."
Brothers and sisters, following Christ is not an easy task, let us strive to be to his liking, to walk his path, because this path is also full of Truth and Life. Let us not stop asking the Lord as others did in the past: "Sir, give us this bread always” so that He may feed our lives as we advance.
Fr. Carlos Flores, OSA
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