HOMILY FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B (3)

HOMILY FOR THE 19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B (3)

CATHOLIC HOMILY THEME: THE BREAD THAT SATISFIES THE BODY AND SOUL

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:

(Jn. 6:41-51) Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus comes to the point of the previous events namely; the multiplication of the loaves and His proclamation of Himself as the bread of life. Jesus is the living bread. He satisfies our bodies and our souls. The Father sent Him in order to save us from the hunger of our souls. He brings life eternal to our dying souls. Jesus’ use of presenting Himself as the “living bread.”

Bread was vital to the Jews. While there were other sources of nourishment, bread remained the most important and necessary. Fathers must see to it that there is always bread for the family. It is in this sense that Jesus presents Himself. The use of bread makes possible a grasping of Jesus’ teaching. In the coming Sundays, it will become complicated. It was hard for the Jews to accept Him as the Messiah and a bread who they can eat.

One more thing. Bread is produced from wheat seed which “dies” before it planted. In the same way, meat comes from carcass, the dead body of an animal. The plan of God was for Jesus to become man, proclaim the Good News, die, and resurrect. Out of the death of Jesus we gain eternal life. Jesus, who died and came back to life, is the living bread, our living bread.

This translates, in real life, when we hope, endure, sacrifice, and persevere through all the challenges, tribulations, pains, and deaths. life is never without them. In fact, these are constitutive of life. Precisely, Jesus came and went through the same which culminated in His dying on the cross. He was showing us that He rules and has authority on life which does not end in death but in life eternal. Being the living bread, He gives us Himself as the answer to the question and mystery which is life.