1 Kings 19.4-8; Ps 33 (34); Eph 4.30-5.2; Jn 6: 41-51

Addressing the Ephesians, Paul makes a surprising statement for his high requirement: “Be imitators of God”! How is it possible? On the other hand, Jesus similarly urges the disciples: “Whoever has listened to the Father and learned from him, comes to me”. We must allow ourselves to be instructed by God, to learn from him. The instruction that the Father addresses to us, however, does not have a verbal tenor, it does not pass through words and theories. Rather, it has the concreteness of the Son’s flesh, offered for the life of the world. God instructs us by giving us the life of Jesus, who through the Eucharistic bread comes into us, nourishes us and assimilates us to him, to his concrete humanity, which manifests him not only as the son of Joseph, as our flesh is, but of the Father who is in heaven, who wishes to make us similar to himself, like the Son Jesus. We know our father and our mother, but we are called to recognize this new life that the Father, through the Son given for us, generates in our existence. By feeding on the bread of life, not only do we no longer die, but we share the very life of God. We can truly imitate the Father! The mysterious bread that Elijah receives in the desert gives him the opportunity to walk to Horeb, to the encounter with God. The bread that Jesus gives us, the bread that he is, introduces us even more deeply into the silence of communion with God.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey