Food That Perishes

It’s so easy to do the right thing because we want to tick all the right boxes. We want to live by the law. We want to accomplish the work of God.

Or, at least, we say that we do.

But Jesus tells us that in order to accomplish the work of God, we have to believe in the one he sent. And to believe in Christ is to be filled with the spirit of truth — to do what is right because it is right, not because we want to be filled with good feelings. 

What is the difference between doing what is right because you want to be a good Christian, and doing what is right because you believe in Christ?

It’s the difference between eating manna and the Eucharist. One fills your stomach and keeps you alive, and nothing more. The other satisfies a hunger you might not have even known you had, or if you did know, you called it by another name — sadness, unfulfillment, fear. One achieves a corporeal goal, and that’s the end of it. The other accomplishes something invisibly, secretly, silently, and though there is physical evidence of its work all around us, you have to be shrewd to recognize it.

It’s the difference between making a social media post condemning sin and enveloping a sinner (the one at our dinner table, the one on the street, the one staring back at us in the mirror) with love and concern. It’s the difference between simply going to Mass and living the Gospel. It’s the difference between speaking to God and saying a prayer. It’s the difference between telling someone they’re wrong and telling them about the truth.

There’s nothing wrong doing what is right because we long for heaven, and there’s nothing wrong with eating manna if you’re starving. But that alone isn’t enough. We must also long for the bread of heaven, the bread that gives life to the world.

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.’” — John 6:35

©LPi