Today, Jesus continues talking to the crowd that has followed him, asking them to listen closely to what he is saying. He is offering himself as bread, as the staff of life for the world. “I believe that you and I are being confronted with the question,” Father Jerry aks, “What bread do I stuff myself with that provides so little nourishment or fulfillment?”

For many of us, the answer may be that “we feed on anger, on pride, on self-centeredness, on control, on wealth,” Father suggests, “and then find ourselves unsatisfied and famished.”

Jesus on the other hand invites us to eat living bread, the bread of compassion, the bread of reconciliation, the bread of justice, the bread of peace. “That not only nourishes us,” says Father Jerry in his homily below, “but inspires us to become bread for others.”