The Bread of Life

Christus panis vevus


“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”    John 6:51

The Eucharist is immortal food and the food of immortality. Jesus took bread at the Passover feast and made it his spiritual body. He told the disciples, and therefore us, that when it is received with faith in supplication, the eater will have eternal life.

Often, when I am contemplating the Holy Eucharist, I think about what food is and what it is for. There are a myriad of products that are called “food,” many, if not most, of which barely scratch the surface of what food is intended to be, so I do not waste my time thinking about them. I reflect on real food, the food God intended us to eat, with the intended result. 

Food is life. Given by God, that which is food to us empowers us, gives us energy, and makes us strong. Food satisfies our bodily needs to operate and perform in the ways God intended. But if that was all food was, God could have made us able to absorb sunlight or cosmic radiation or air. Food provides all that our bodies need to function (yes, water is considered food), but God gave us so much more than food when He gave us the need to eat. Food is a social catalyst and an emotional experience; food provides opportunity and encourages relationship.

When Jesus took the bread–the food, and added his life–his spirit, He made that food as sustenance to feed not only body and mind, but spirit. Where bread by itself provided nutrients, this bread would provide the essence of eternal life. In John 6:51, Jesus tells us, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.” So, yes, this food is what sustains us now and brings us to live eternally in God’s heavenly Kingdom.  Jesus has given us this bread in the midst of our devotion and supplication to be the food of eternal life.

For over two thousand years, the Holy Eucharist, the food of immortality, has nourished God’s children. It is the means by which the Kingdom has been carried down through generations. When we “eat this bread,” the food of immortality, we know his presence through obedience and grow in our likeness of him in spirit. The bread of life draws us through the mystical presence of our King to a deeper understanding of ourselves as the focus of Christ’s sacrifice. 

Come to Church on Sunday and take and eat the living bread of Christ’s sacrifice.  Jesus waits for you.

Christus panis vevus,

Fr. Bill+