Food that does not perish
Friends in the Lord, today we read of Our Lord’s multiplication of the loaves to feed the thousands – this miraculous bread. This miraculous bread is an anticipation, a symbol, for the Holy Eucharist.
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After this great miracle, the crowds won’t leave Christ alone. But he says to them, ‘Do not seek after food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.’ Christ will then go on to give his Bread of Life discourse.
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The Holy Eucharist has been called the secret to immortality. The early fathers called the Holy Eucharist, ‘the Medicine of Immortality.’
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We have seen on Easter, Jesus conquer death. Rising in his glorified, resurrected body. We are to do the same. But how? We need contact with that miraculous, resurrected body. Our Lord therefore instructs us to eat his Body and drink his Blood. Jesus has said, ‘He who eats this bread will live forever, and I will raise him up on the last day.’
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We assimilate this resurrected Lord, we become one with the Eternal God-man. This is how we will survive death and live forever.
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You know, St. Catherine of Sienna was an amazing woman, God gave her many favors. Her confessor relates to us an interesting fact: for a period of many years, she ate nothing except the Sacred Host. St. Joseph Cupertino also, ate and drank nothing for 15 years except Holy Communion. Catherine of Genoa, during Lent and Advent, for 23 years, took no food whatever, except Holy Communion. The Eucharist alone, has sustained at least 62 different saints for long periods of time.
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And quite recently, a German lay woman, Therese Neumann, who died in just 1962, lived the last 36 years of her life without any food or water other than Holy Communion. Despite daily, vigorous work on their farm, doctors always concluded that only one thing was keeping her alive: Holy Communion.
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What do these miracles point to? To the supernatural life we receive in the Body and Blood of Christ, which will bring us safely across death, to the resurrection in Paradise.
