EVEN JUST CRUMBS

Ps 78:18-19, 23-24, 25-26, 27-28/Mt 13:1-9

Our response to the Psalm today is “The Lord gave them bread from heaven.” Knowing the Exodus, we know that this “bread” is the manna which the ancestors of the Israelites ate in the desert. God feed them in the wilderness as if it were a wild dream.

Jesus continues to feed us with bread more superior to manna. He gives us Himself. That is even wilder! “How can this man give us His flesh to eat,” did not the Jews argue?

Just as there are three kinds of soil on which the seed, in the Parable today, fell, there are also three kinds of people who receive the Bread of Life, the Manna from Heaven, Jesus Himself. To which of the three do we belong?

First is the man who receives the Eucharist but keeps what he receives to himself and for himself. The Eucharist does not change him into becoming more and more like Jesus who gave Himself away. He hoards Jesus when he should share Jesus to as many people as possible by allowing the Broken Bread to transform him into bread broken for others.

Second is the man who receives the Eucharist simply for show. He falls in line during Holy Communion time and receives the Blessed Sacrament because not doing so puts him in a rather embarrassing situation. More embarrassing when all the other people in the same pew he is sitting on stand to receive Holy Communion and he is there left staring blankly on the floor. Most embarrassing when those around gaze at him with a speculative stare: “What sin did he do that he cannot receive Holy Communion now?” This kind of man profanes the Eucharist.

Third is the man who receives the Eucharist and is transformed by what he receives, making him more and more like Jesus. He is the perfect example of the saying, “You are what you eat” or “What you eat and drink today walks and talks tomorrow.” What this man receives is not hoarded neither profaned, but grows and bears much fruit. From life-recipient, he becomes a life-giver himself.

When the good seeds are sown, they fall on any kind of soil. But only those that fall into the good soil yield a rich harvest. When the Bread of Life is broken, we nobody is refused or turned away from receiving It. But only the life that does not hoard or profane the Life-Giver truly becomes life-given…just like Jesus, the Bread of Life.

Watch out, for even just crumbs of that Bread can make this happen!