In the weeks following the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, it seems very fitting that the Church gives us multiple Sundays on which to read from John 6, the Bread of Life discourse. Having fed the hungry crowd, Jesus departs, but the people follow, longing for more. The Lord accepts their desire for earthly bread, but teaches them that there is a deeper hunger, for they are really searching for the bread that satisfies for eternity. Jesus, the Bread of Life, will give Himself for the life of the world, such that those who follow Him, those who place their trust in Him, will never hunger again.
On August 4, we ordinarily celebrate the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. When he was assigned to the tiny village of Ars in France, he had a long journey through the countryside before he could arrive at his new home. Along the road he came upon some children playing, and uncertain of the route to Ars, he stopped and asked directions. Today, just outside of Ars, you will find a statue of St. John Vianney inscribed with the words he spoke to the children that day: “Show me the way to Ars, and I will show you the way to heaven.” St. John Vianney would spend the rest of his life in that small town, leading souls to heaven. He did this most of all by encouraging Eucharistic devotion and the regular practice of sacramental confession.
As pastor, St. John Vianney noticed a farmer stopping in to the church every day. He noticed that the man sat devoutly before the tabernacle and always carried a sense of peace with him. So one day, pastor approached parishioner, and asked about the farmer’s prayer. The man replied very simply, “I look at Him, and He looks at me. I love Him, and He loves me.” In those moments of Eucharistic adoration, the farmer was discovering the great longing of his heart, which was to be fed not with earthly food but with the food that satisfies unto eternity.
Looking ahead at the next few weeks, we have a prolonged reflection on the Bread of Life, the gift that Jesus gives to us in the Eucharist. When we receive Holy Communion, when we genuflect before the tabernacle, when we kneel in adoration, we are recognizing that Jesus is present for us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. Like the farmer visiting the church in Ars, we are invited to look at Him, and to receive His loving gaze in return. As we read from John 6 today, we might also consider the work our priests do. They have been charged to show us the way to heaven. The way to heaven is a Eucharistic way, and is found as we come to Jesus, the Bread of Life, the Bread from Heaven, the One who can truly satisfy. Through the intercession of St. John Vianney, may all priests be renewed in their own Eucharistic devotion and so show us the way to heaven.
