+ In this gospel passage today, Jesus tells those who came looking for him that they came not because of the sign of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand from a few loaves, but because there was something different about the bread itself that they ate – it satisfied a deeper spiritual longing and hunger in them. This, of course, being a sign of the coming great institution of the Eucharist – which would be the Lord's own Body and Blood - providing the deepest and most abiding spiritual nourishment and strength for all who would eat it. He tells these onlookers to thirst for the food that endures forever, and then to do the work of God, which is to believe in the one he sent, himself, Jesus of Nazareth!
As a testimonial of one who feasted on the Lord's Bread and who gained the very strength of the Spirit, we see Stephen, in the first reading today, dispensing truth about the death and resurrection of Jesus – the Nazorean who indeed did claim to destroy the temple and change the customs that Moses handed down to them – and rightly so, with the authority he had to do it as Son of God. While he was being interrogated by the Sanhedrin the face of Stephen was like that of an angel because God protects in adversity those he chooses to proclaim and defend his truth in a hostile environment!
May we this day be fed by the Bread of Angels, and fearlessly speak the truth of the reality of God's presence and action in our lives – no matter what the environment.
Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.
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