John 6: 35-40
Jesus said to the crowd, “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.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Believe, Trust and Follow
There are days when in my human obsession with understanding everything I find it hard to comprehend how I can love my enemies. Fortunately, Jesus does not call us to understand anything. He calls us to believe, to trust and to follow him. Understanding isn’t an essential element in salvation. If understanding was required would Joseph have obeyed and taken Mary into his home?
In John’s Gospel Jesus does not explain “how” he is the bread of life or how he will raise us up on the last day. Jesus simply states divine truth and beckons us to believe, trust and follow. St. Ignatius invites us through imaginative prayer to enter into this scene in John. We are invited to let the words of Christ, words of spiritual nourishment and surrender wash over us. We are invited to embrace the lover of our souls.
—Terresa Michele Ford is an Ignatian spiritual director, palliative care chaplain and artist who has written for Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center, Catholic Women Preach, and the Black Catholic Messenger. She holds an M.Div. from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University and an MFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and serves as a Reflector for the Ignatian Volunteer Corp.
Prayer
Jesus, lover of my soul, I take refuge in you even when I don’t understand. Even when the encroaching chaos of the world begins to invade my mind, bruise my heart and incite fear in me, I take refuge in you. Jesus, I say yes to your will. I believe, I trust and I follow. Amen.
—Terresa Michele Ford