It is easy to scoff at the Israelites grumbling to Moses about the hardship they faced in the desert. How ridiculous to say they’d rather be enslaved again! How ungrateful they are to God and to Moses for leading them out of slavery in the first place! But anyone who has truly known what it’s like to be hungry day after day with no end in sight can appreciate their cries. When someone has an acute physical need that is not met, reason and reasonableness are lost. Think back to how you felt when you were significantly ill or injured. Pain and chronic agony take over. Nothing else can even be contemplated. This is how it became for this formerly enslaved people wandering in the desert without food or water. Every minute of every day their thoughts were consumed by their misery. 

                When uncertain of what to believe, it is natural to look for signs. We look for some insight into the truth. In his Gospel, John referred to Jesus’ miracles as signs. The crowd in today’s Gospel passage saw his sign of the loaves and fish and now ask for a sign “that we may see and believe” (John 6:30). We may ask ourselves what signs we need to see in order to believe. Perhaps we would be better off asking ourselves what signs we can provide so that others may believe. How can we multiply what we have in order to nourish more people than we can imagine? How can we give life to the world? How can we point the way to the truth by what we do?

                We have a huge advantage over both the crowd in the desert and the one in Capernaum. We know the ending. The Israelites make it to the Promised Land. The Bread of Life is the food of our redemption. Today when we are faced with an uncertain future and problems that appear to be unsolvable, let us take comfort in knowing that God continues to watch over us, forever satisfying our hunger and thirst. 

How does receiving the Lord in the Eucharist sustain you?