The Very Essence of Life

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

August 08, 2021

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10th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines
August 08, 2021

Readings: Deuteronomy 8:1-10
Ephesians 4:30-5:2
John 6:37-51

August 6 was the Day of Ascension. Sealing all the work Christ has done, He goes back to the Father. In today’s Gospel, the most powerful phrase He said was, “I am the Bread of Life.” There is so much more than just feeding us. He came from heaven to do the will of God. When we see His life we can see that He was really fulfilling the will of the Father.
From the beginning of time, man was meant to be in the image of God and to be like Him. Christ came to give us an understanding of who God wants us to be. The “bread” He is talking about is the very essence of everything we should be doing in our lives. His purpose was for us to cultivate, multiply and keep the earth, and not to be a slave.

Christ set an example for us by living out His life as a child of God in the flesh. The first miracle of the water changing into wine was perfect and excellent. This is showing us that we should do things in excellence.
1 John 4:17 “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”
We should see ourselves as who we are in Christ. A challenge for us is that we can even do more than Christ since we are many.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.”

Why do we keep digging up the past? Bringing out our failures and weaknesses? How often do we see Christ? If we are diligent, we can see Him. We will be able to know what His desires are, for us. How many times have we seen Christ do things for us, but then when we encounter the same problem again, we panic? That which God has given us is the very essence of life. We are not to let the things of the world control us. We are to take charge. God is with us we need not be anxious and wanting to give up.

The Jews couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying when He referred to Himself as the “Bread of life,” because they were comparing Him to Moses.
1 Corinthians 10:2 “They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”
The real bread has come. It is divine and it comes down from heaven.

“You have seen me but do not believe,” Jesus continues. And the Jews said, “but isn’t he the son of a carpenter?” They could not believe that this ordinary man could come down from heaven.
Christ is the Bread of life. Only through Him can we live a fullness of life.

Colossians 2:10 And in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

Christ who filleth all in all wants us to fill the earth. He draws men to the earth. No one can go to the Father except through Christ. It is like a big net drawing fishes to the fisherman.
We should not be living in need, want or in poverty. We obtain our salvation by the grace of God. But we will be accountable one day with what we have done with our salvation. In Him you have been made complete.

John 1:16 “From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”

We are not the needy. We are the blessed. Christ fulfilled the will of the Father. He has done His work by restoring man back to the Father. If we only knew who we are in Christ, we will have joy and security in our lives. If we have Christ, we have fulfillment because He is the very essence of life for us.