Exodus 16: 2—4. 12-15
Eph: 4:17. 20-24
John 6:24-35
Today’s gospel makes it clear that Jesus did not come down from heaven merely to satisfy the physical hunger of the people. The people had seen Jesus’ miracles of the loaves and fishes feeding their physical hunger, they had seen him cure the sick and cast out devils, but when they looked for him physically, they didn’t find him or see him. He had left them physically but not spiritually. They went across the lake to search for him, and when they found him, they asked him, “When did you come here?’”
Jesus answered them by saying that his invitation was not just to get their physical needs met, but that they should first look to do the will of the Father and this will lead to eternal life, feeding their everlasting hunger. When Jesus invites them to do the works of God their reply is “what must we do if we are to do the works of God?” Jesus answers that working for God, doing his will, is to believe in the one he has sent, namely Jesus himself. 
When we talk of doing the works of God, what counts is not so much the works we do for God, our observances, our prayers etc., but more importantly is the works that we allow God to do in us and for us by our faith in him. Faith is a call to follow Jesus closely,
- To take on his values throughout our lives
- To commit ourselves to whatever he reveals to us, what he calls us to do.
Material things alone can never satisfy the heart of a human being. Let us remember what Paul advises in our second reading. “I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live…you must give up your old way of life…which gets corrupted by following illusory desires.”
We all have seen what certain hungers have done to people: gambling, drug and alcohol addictions, property development and wealth addictions. What is the main cause of wars in the Ukraine, in Gaza and so many place … hunger for power, hunger for domination, hunger to be number one, hunger for material things.
Deep within us lies the hunger for eternal life, in other words the hunger for God. To experience this hunger is not a misfortune but a blessing. In each of us there is a desire for something more than we are or have. As Christians we believe that only God can fully satisfy our deepest need.
The good news is that Jesus, the Bread of Life, the Bread that fully satisfies the hunger for eternal life, is offered to us at every Eucharist. What a marvelous gift! It nourishes us on our pilgrim journey as the manna nourished the Israelites, except the Bread of the Eucharist is Jesus himself, who promised that “The one who comes to me will never be hungry. The one who believes in me will never thirst.” May we be grateful for the gifts of the sacraments which enable us to live this life in God’s service and hopefully depart it in his grace, Amen.
Thérèse Lenehan O.P.