“You have not been appointed to decree vengeance upon men’s’ deeds and work,
but rather to ask for mercy for the world, to keep vigil for salvation of all, and to
partake in every man’s suffering, both the just and sinners …” (St. Isaac of Syria)
Just as the people in the Gospel (John 6:24-35) are corrected by Jesus for focusing on the good, but external aspects of a sign (bread) rather than the better, divine truth it represented (Jesus is the bread of life), the Gospel today challenges us to ensure we come to Mass for the right reasons.
We hear plenty about bread from heaven in today’s scripture offerings. The first reading from Exodus speaks of bread raining down from the heavens. We hear a similar theme from Psalm 78. Jesus promises that we will never hunger. Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life.
We satisfy our hunger and thirst in all kinds of manners. Like Jesus, I am not referring to physical hunger, but to those longings within us. As Saint Augustine reminds us, that our deepest hunger and restlessness will never be satisfied, not until we rest in the Lord.
This is the Civic Holiday, the August Long Weekend. It goes by many names and dates, depending upon where you live in Canada. It is the public holiday celebrated in most of the country on the first Monday in August, but local municipalities have the authority to decide on who, what or which event is celebrated on which day.