Jesus Is the Bread of Life

As we begin a new year, 2015, we are reminded, in the appointed Gospel reading for the Church’s daily prayer, that Jesus is the bread of life and that it is he who sustains us in all things:

 

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’  …  I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ (John 6:35-41, 48-51).

 

As we begin this new year, we are bombarded with commercials about weight loss, gastric sleeve surgeries, gym memberships; the list goes on and on.  The early morning television shows run stories about new year’s resolutions urging us to change our lives for the better. 

 

Many of us make resolutions for the new year, but after a brief period, we give up.  We cannot sustain it; the change does not take root in us.

 

Here is a new year’s resolution you can work on: remember every morning that it is Jesus who feeds you and sustains you. It is Jesus who gives you life and breath.  In Jesus you will never hunger or thirst no matter what life may bring.  It is Jesus who is God with us in all of life’s circumstances.  It is Jesus who takes the ordinary of our lives and makes it sacred and holy.

 

Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, come into my life.  Feed me and sustain with the Bread of Life.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

Annual Parish Meeting will be Sunday, 11 January 2015, after the 9:00 am Eucharist.

 

ESL begins Monday, 5 January, from 6 pm to 8 pm in Sutton Hall.

 

Al-Anon in Spanish begins Thursday, 8 January, 6 pm.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550