AIM FOR THE BREAD THAT DOES NOT PERISH
          The gospel that we have today immediately follows the story of the
multiplication of the bread, which was the gospel that we had last Sunday. It is quite interesting that after Jesus literally fed around five thousand men and women—which really showed to us that He is very much concerned with the physical well-being of every individual—he reminds those same people with these words, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal."
          What we have here is Jesus telling them and us that in as much as we need to take care of our bodily needs like food, we also need to pay equal attention or more attention to our spiritual well being. We human beings operate through our senses—what is usually appealing and pleasurable are those that can satisfy our senses and physical desires. St. Chrysostom, one of the finest preachers in the fourth century who was called the “Golden Mouth” because of his powerful homilies, said “Men are nailed to the things of this life.”  He might be correct on this but, at the same time, God has also gifted us, in virtue of being made in his own image and likeness, the capacity to transcend what is physical, that ability to see and discern what is invisible to the eye, the ability to raise our eyes to heaven and not just be consumed by what the stark and visible world offers. This is what Jesus was trying to say to the crowd in the gospel this weekend: “Hey, people, look, I have already fed you when you were hungry. I just multiplied the bread and fish for you. But instead of you thinking or elevating your mind to the God who made these things possible for you, you are still stuck with the bread that you ate.”  A scripture scholar states it well what Jesus was trying to teach the people with these words: “You cannot think about your souls for thinking about your stomachs.”  This made me recall a story about a child while sitting in the back seat of his mother’s car with a hamburger in one hand and fries on his lap, just having pulled out of McDonald’s, asked his mother, “Where are we going to eat after we eat next?”  Sad to say, children are not always the ones who think that way, adults do too. One can also just get stuck with the earthly bread and not even bother to raise our eyes to the God who in his loving providence continues to sustain us in all our needs. How proactive are we in working for the food that does not perish but gives eternal life? - Fr. Cary