The Food that endures

The Food that endures

“Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.”  (John 6:27)

As I read this, a number of scriptures on food occur to me:  
“Man does not live on bread alone.”
“Do not worry about what to eat.”
Paul wrote about over-attachment to material food which is perishable.

About ten years ago, I worried about what to eat.  Pausing to reflect on that period of my life today, it is amazing to see what a wonderful deliverance the Lord gave me over food.    The root cause of my problem with food was errors and untruths about food.  Some of these errors are:  Food gives much pleasure.  Food is one of the most important things in life.  I cannot do without food.  The truth about food is exposed by the word of God.  Material food is transient and perishable.  The pleasure is momentary.  

In John 6: 27, Jesus Christ is saying that the most important food is himself.  This is the “food that endures to eternal life.”  Jesus fulfils the promise to offer us himself as food in the Eucharist.  On the Eucharist and food, the Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say:  “The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist.  The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already announces the Hour of Jesus’ glorification.  It makes manifest the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father’s kingdom, where the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ.”  (CCC #1335)