So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform?"
- St. John 6:30
Most of us, at one time or another, have tried to make deals with God, asking Him for a sign, promising Him all sorts of renewed faithfulness, promising Him that our devotion would be greater, or that we would believe in Him more firmly.
Part of the Gospel message of our Lord Jesus Christ is that we need not attempt to “strike bargains” with God. We need not “ask for signs” in order to believe. The bargain has been already struck. It was struck upon the cross, and it was consummated in the empty tomb. That was and is the great sign from God. That’s what Jesus spoke of when He said that His Father gives the True Bread from Heaven – when He said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”
“What sign do you do, that we may see, and believe in you?” the people asked. Jesus answered that question for all time when He allowed Himself to be nailed to the Cross and then overcame death in the grave. Ask for no further sign – no further miracle is necessary – because the sign from God is perpetually with us. In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus is perpetually sacrificed for us, and we partake of His glorious Body and Blood day after day.
Just as God sent heavenly manna to the Children of Israel to stave off their hunger as they wandered in the wilderness, so God sends us heavenly Bread – the very Body of Christ Crucified and Risen – to sustain us in this life, and to bring us to eternal life.
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Painting: "The Eucharistic Saviour”
by Juan de Juanes (1545-1550)