Imagine a close friend hasn’t returned your calls for three days. Knowing they’re struggling, you go to their house. You find no response to your knock, and use a hidden key to enter. Inside, you discover them curled up in bed, overwhelmed by sadness. What happened to the vibrant person you knew? How do you respond?
This dark room is a metaphor for depression—a space many of us have faced or tried to help someone through. The Old Testament story of Elijah provides insight into this struggle. After a moment of great success, Elijah fell into deep despair, fearing for his life and wishing to die. Depression has a way of doing that. It can sneak up on us after a great triumph, or after a good moment.
Instead of reprimanding Elijah, God sent an angel with simple food, which gave him the strength to recover. This ordinary care—a meal and rest—was all he needed to begin overcoming his depression. It was the divine equivalent of a hug and a cup of soup.
Similarly, in today’s Gospel, the people following Jesus ask for signs to strengthen their faith. Jesus offers them the ultimate sign: His own body and blood as the Bread of Life. This offer is meant to sustain them spiritually, but many reject it. They struggle with the idea of a humble carpenter claiming divinity, and find it hard to accept such a simple gift as a profound truth.
Jesus’ message was too unconventional for them. They expected a grandiose Messiah, not someone who mingled with outcasts and offered Himself in the humble forms of bread and wine. They wanted dramatic signs like winds and earthquakes, not the quiet assurance of God among us in everyday life.
My friends, do not look for God merely in the extraordinary. He is in our everyday life and comes to us in simplicity: bread and wine. But the Eucharist is not a private party. It is meant to build community so that we all become what we receive, the Body of Christ.
As we receive the Body of Christ, we should reflect on whether our faith truly makes a difference. Do others who seek Christ find Him in us? Or do they need to look for another?
