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Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 13, 2006

One of the things you learn in studying communication skills is the importance of making I statements. I feel this or I feel that, instead of blaming another for our own feelings. I statements are non threatening and I statements are clear and direct ways to communicate who we are and how we are and we thereby take responsibility for ourselves.

In St. John’s Gospel Jesus makes a number of I statement that we don’t see in the other gospel writers….I statements that communicate very clearly and directly who he is and what his mission in life is all about: I am the Light of the world; I am the Good Shepherd; I am the resurrection and the life; I am the way the truth and the light.

And in today’s Gospel reading Jesus makes two important I statements: He says I am the bread of life and I am the bread come down from heaven. Jesus is telling us very clearly that He Himself is the source of all life and nourishment for that life. Without Him we starve and wither away.

We gather today to share that Bread come down from heaven as we do each weekend. And we follow the same ritual every time. The danger for all of us is that it can become too familiar for us; that we can take it for granted; that we forget and the impact of the mystery can get lost on us.

To have God come into our midst is mind boggling enough, but to have a God who wants to be so close to us that He becomes our very food for life, food that we take within us, food that becomes physically a part of us is almost more than we can comprehend.

And yet throughout the pages of scripture we see how God continually nourishes His people, feeds them when they are starving in the desert with manna and quail and water; multiplies loaves and a couple of fish to feed thousands; but gives the ultimate food in becoming the bread of life for us.

Throughout scripture we see how God wants to be close to His people: He makes his dwelling place in their midst; he travels with them throughout the desert; and Jesus roams from village to village to be with His people and to bring them what they need.

God continues to make His dwelling place in our midst and in our hearts. This Eucharist reminds us that every day God is with us, God is nourishing us, and God has become a part of us.

I am the bread come down from heaven, is an I statement that captures the essence of a God who has made us His people eternally.