We’re learning that it takes wisdom to understand God’s simple desire that we love one another. Jesus is telling the people that God is their food, their life, their only hope for everlasting joy, but they keep wanting more signs, explanations, and clarifications.

I once knew a very wise man. No matter what I said to him, he always heard what I was saying behind the words I chose with such care. He listened as if his ear were pressed to my heart, and my conversation was almost incidental to what he managed to hear from me.

“I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”

It seems that when you are hungry, your senses conspire against you. That is why some restaurants put elaborate, full-color pictures of their meals on their menus or place sample plates in their windows.

My husband went to get the car while the nurse went over a few last-minute details about how to care for our newborn daughter, who had a serious heart defect and a diagnosis of Down syndrome. The nurse outlined the telltale signs of distress that would indicate a trip back to the hospital; she advised me on the best diapers and formula (“whatever’s on sale”). She reminded me how to swaddle the baby and how to use the suction syringe to clean her nose.

The people in today’s gospel who just “don’t get it” when Jesus tells them his flesh is the living bread from heaven remind me of a time we scared the daylights out of my younger daughter.

In scripture this week we continue to deepen our awareness of the mystery of Christ’s presence. To open ourselves further to Christ, we turn to God’s grace and mercy.

The most holy Eucharist holds within itself the whole spiritual treasure of the church, namely Christ himself, our passover and our living bread.