19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – B
August 11, 2024 5pm and 11am
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
A Mother’s Love
Back in the nineteenth century, about two hundred years ago, there was a well-known French author named Victor Hugo.
One of his stories is very touching. The setting is in France, in the year 1793, right after the French Revolution.
A young mother and her two children are homeless and poor. They have wandered through the woods for several days and are surviving on any edible vegetation they can find.
Then, one morning, they see two soldiers approaching, and they hide in the bushes. One of the soldiers – a sergeant – spots them and orders them to come out into the open.
The captain realizes that they are on the verge of starvation, and he offers the mother a baguette of bread. She immediately breaks it into two pieces and gives half of the baguette to each of her children.
The children ravenously eat the bread, and the mother just watches with satisfaction. The sergeant is surprised that the mother has kept none of the bread for herself.
He says to his captain, “Is it because the mother is not hungry?” And the captain replies, “No, Sergeant, it is because she is a mother.”
God’s Love
This mother’s love in Victor Hugo’s story is a wonderful reflection of God’s love for us.
This mother gives her children all the bread she has and in effect, she gives them her life. In a similar way, Jesus gives us the bread that he has and in effect, he gives his very life to us.
“The Bread of Life”
This is the “bread of life” that Jesus speaks of in today’s gospel, and it has two dimensions to it.
We may not usually think of it this way, but “the bread of life” is first of all God’s Word – the Word of God.
In today’s passage, Jesus calls himself “the bread that came down from heaven.” He then says that “whoever believes” and receives his word, the Word of God, “has eternal life.”
So, let’s ask: has there been a time when the Scripture passage or the reflection here at Mass has gotten us through a rough time? Has there been a time when it has given us an insight on how to handle something?
Are there times when God’s Word feeds us with a word or sentence or story that just seems to speak personally to us? So, the bread of life is first of all the bread of God’s Word.
And then, Jesus himself is quite literally the “bread of life” for us.
He says, “Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” So, Jesus literally gives himself to us in the bread and wine, his body and blood.
Again, let’s ask: have there been times when we have really hungered for the Eucharist? Have there been times when we have felt alone or empty and we just needed this bread?
Have there been times when we needed the closeness and fullness that the Eucharist brings? So, the bread of life is also the bread of Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist.
One Qualification: Hunger
I have one final thought.
In Victor Hugo’s story, the mother gives the entire baguette to her children for one reason. They are hungry.
Jesus does the same for us. His bread, “the bread of life,” is here for us not just if we are perfect.
Instead, it is for us – human, imperfect, with a mix of virtue and sin. In the feeding of the 5,000 that we heard two weeks ago, Jesus offers the gift of bread to everyone because they are hungry.
And again at the Last Supper, he offers the bread and wine, his body and blood to all were there. Why? Not because they were perfect but because they were hungry
So, this is an important point. My experience tells me that very few of us are really unworthy to receive the bread of life because of something we have done, because of sin.
So, let’s be in touch with our hunger for the bread of God’s Word and for the bread of Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist. And with this hunger, we are assured that we will be fed by the One who is the bread of life.
