The WORD in Other Word by Fr Jun Castro SVD (Philippines)
Tuesday 6th Week in Ordinary Time
In our SVD seminary composed of many German priests and brothers, there was a type of bread in their dining hall that made us, the seminarians, curious.
We called it German bread. Since that bread was off limits to us and it looked so different from our pan de sal, just to taste a small piece consumed our imagination. Later on as professed brothers and priests, we would joke among ourselves that it was after all just a simple and common bread!
The experience of the disciples in following Jesus included the long and painstaking process of understanding the bread that He was about to give them. It consisted both of the bread of God ́s Word and of His very life about to be offered in sacrifice.
Jesus had long revealed himself to us already as the Bread of Life. How do we understand the meaning of the breaking of the loaves? Whenever we obey and live God ́s Word, we continue to understand this bread. Whenever we participate also in the breaking of the bread during the celebration of the Eucharist we are invited to allow ourselves to be broken and shared for the sake of others.
When children demand the attention of their mother at the same time, the latter usually says: Break up my body so that each one can have a piece of it. In the Eucharist as it is in life, for life-giving bread to be shared, first it has to be broken. Then, it is given with much love and joy.
Source – The WORD in Other Words 2017
Éditions Verbum Bible 
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