27 April 2023
Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
When Satan attempted to tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread after his fast in the desert, Jesus rebuked the devil by saying, “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” When considered in the context of the Gospel reading today, this quote begins to take on some additional, beautiful layers of meaning. In the most superficial way, man does not live on bread alone in that human beings are not sustained purely by the physical processes of nature. God holds each one of us intentionally in existence at every moment of every day such that if He forgot about us for one instant, we would simply cease to exist. Thus, it is important to realize that we cannot sustain ourselves in any way whatsoever, least of all by merely physical means. We rely totally on the Providence of God for our every need and to do the will of God, to enter into relationship with God is life-giving and nurturing.
Taken in the context of John’s Gospel, however, one can make the connection that Jesus is the Word who was with the Father from the beginning. The Word spoken by the Father is the Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity who took on flesh and came to dwell with us. Thus, to say that we live on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God is also to say that we live on the Word who offers his very flesh for the life of the world. Thus, we live not only on physical nutrition but through God’s will that wills us into being at each and every moment. Further, the word that comes forth from the mouth of God is none other than Christ Himself who has won new life for us through his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Through our participation in the Eucharist, Christ reconciles us to Himself and makes us heirs to eternal life. Thus it is that truly mankind does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Christ, our Lord and Savior, is the saving Word made flesh who offers Himself and makes Himself available to us in the Blessed Sacrament literally every moment of every single day.