Living bread

Podcast

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Scripture references

• Deutoronomy 8:2-3, 14-16
• 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
• John 6:51-58

Reflection

At the end of a week of meetings and teachings, every World Youth Day ends with a pilgrimage to an open-air vigil and mass.  I’ve had the privilege to take part in four of these encounters, but it wasn’t until 2005 that I began to understand the true meaning of pilgrimage.

The open-air mass was complete, and the pilgrims, about 800,000 or so were on their way back home.  Since the priests were seated in a different section for the mass, and therefore separated from any other pilgrims we may have accompanied, Father Danny and I had told the rest of our group not to wait for us when it was over, but that we would meet them back at our lodgings.  As the crowd began to move out of the park, Danny and I made our way, but before I knew it, a throng of singing youth came rushing across our path, and by the time they were gone, Danny was no where to be found … I was alone.

Surrounded by a throbbing mass of humanity, I needed to continue.  I had my backpack, a bottle of water and the clothes on my back, but the next two hours would teach me a lesson I have never forgotten.  It seemed as though I walked forever.  By the time it was over, the strap on my backpack was broken and I was clutching it to my chest, my feet ached because the sandals I was wearing did little to support my weary limbs, my water bottle was long since dry, and I craved liquid of some kind to battle the dehydration that had already begun to set in.

This was truly a desert experience.  There were no cars to ride in. There were none of the modern luxuries that I’ve become accustomed to in this land of lavishness.  It was a lesson in humility, not unlike the journey of Moses and the Jewish people in the desert (Dt 8:2-3).   Along the way, I moved relatively easily between the different groups.  Each cluster of pilgrims could be identified by large flags, the flags of their native countries.  I found myself doing a mental exercise to see how many of the flags I could identify. I asked questions of each group, in whatever language or other means of communication we could work out, about where they were headed, and tried to figure out whether I too was going in the right direction.

Throughout that experience, and for many years afterward, I have often returned to that moment when I was separated from my friend.  I felt totally abandoned and it was hard work to make my way.  Even after I had come home to the normal routine of life, I still return from time to time in my mind and prayer to that experience.  I look around and see so many children, adolescents, adults … who are wandering in a desert they don’t even recognize.  How many of our family and friends go through life without realizing that our society is deeply fragmented by loneliness and that this kind of silence can be deafening?

How many people today realize the true meaning of the gift Jesus offered?  The living bread (Jn 6:51) and the blessing cup (1 Cor 10:16) that we share are freely given by our God as food for our journey, to help us find our way.  Without them, it is deceptively easy to get lost in the crowd and to blame our troubles on others.  With them, we have all that we need, because they are divine gifts, given for the life of the world.