Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday - 18th April 2024

​I wrote this at Belmont before leaving for Peru, as I thought it might be a bit complicated, what with a six-hour time change and having to cope with many differences in timetable and flying all day, to get a message written and sent for today. I am presuming on God’s mercy that all has gone well and that tomorrow you will receive something fresh from the horse’s mouth! At least the weather here is stable and warm, a constant 25C during the day and sunny.

 

Today we continue our reading of the Discourse on the Bread of Life in the Gospel of John, (Jn 6: 44-51). Jesus is speaking with the crowds at Capernaum following the miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish the previous day. John calls the few miracles he describes in detail in his Gospel signs, for they point clearly to the divinity of Jesus, that he is truly the Messiah and Son of God. He has told the people that he is the Bread of Life, sent down from heaven by the Father to give life to the world, by which he means those who accept him and believe in him. He continues by saying: “No one can come to me​​​​​​​​ unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,

       and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Everything must be done according to God’s will, and his will is that all should be saved and come to eternal life, that no one should be lost. So it is God himself who leads us to his Son, that we might come to the knowledge of the truth.

​​​ ​ “It is written in the prophets:

They will all be taught by God,

and to hear the teaching of the Father,

and learn from it,

is to come to me.

Not that anybody has seen the Father,

except the one who comes from God:

he has seen the Father.”

The word of Jesus is God’s word and his revelation is God’s teaching. Only Jesus who has come down from heaven and has been sent by the Father knows God fully and the mind of God. This knowledge he shares with those who come to him. He feeds them spiritually, for eternal life is to know and love God. He continues:

​​​​“I tell you most solemnly,

 everybody who believes has eternal life.

 I am the bread of life.

 Your fathers ate the manna in the desert

 and they are dead;

   ​​​​​ but this is the bread that comes down from heaven,

 so that a man may eat it and not die.

 I am the living bread

 which has come down from heaven.

 Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;

 and the bread that I shall give is my flesh,

 for the life of the world.”

Jesus is the living bread of life, and to know him and believe in him is to have eternal life, for his life, God’s life, will be in us. Until the very last verse we read today, it all seems very simple and easy to follow, even for his listeners. They ask no questions. The word bread is not being used literally, but figuratively. Then in that last verse Jesus goes a step further when he says, “the bread I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” We are used to worship and liturgy centred on the Eucharist, the Mass, but this is not the case with his listeners, the crowd fed when he multiplied the loaves and fish. They will fail to understand, and express shock, disgust even, at his words. Not only is this bread on which he will feed them his flesh, but he is also giving it for the life, the salvation of the world. Trouble is in store, as we shall find out tomorrow.