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We are familiar with Jesus’ speeches on the bread of life, but we can too quickly conclude that He is just talking about the Eucharist.  Exegetes are divided about this point, some proposing that Jesus is teaching exclusively about wisdom, others exclusively about the Eucharist, others see the first part of the discourse as about wisdom, the later part about the Eucharist.  Andre Feuillet, a well known Catholic Exegete of profound faith, espouses the “both and” position.  If we follow his intuition it should profoundly expand our contemplation of the mystery.  Christ is “the bread of life,” but also – as He says – the “living bread” and the “true bread.”  These titles don’t mean exactly the same thing.  The Word of God is the Father’s bread – that is the meaning of the “true bread.”  An image so visceral about the relationship between the Father and the Son is astonishing and is certainly more adapted to the mystery of Divine Love than to dogmatic theology. read more

Ephrem the Syrian:

He captivated us with these things, which bring pleasure to the palate, in order to draw us to that which brings life to [our] souls. For this reason, he hid the sweetness in the wine he made, so that they might know what treasure is hidden in his life-giving blood.”

Tertullian:

And so, in petitioning for “daily bread,” we ask for perpetuity in Christ and indivisibility from his body. But, because “bread” is admissible in a carnal sense too, it cannot be so used without the religious remembrance of spiritual discipline. For the Lord commands that bread be prayed for which is the only food necessary for believers. read more

Quotes:

“The Greek word Stephen means “crowned” in Latin. In a very beautiful way he anticipated by the portent in his name what he was about to experience in reality—“abjectly stoned but crowned on high.” In Hebrew, however, his name means “your norm.” Whose norm, if not that of the subsequent martyrs, for whom, by being the first to suffer, he became the model of dying for Christ?”

“Before Stephen begins his defense, the Sanhedrin members all looked intently at him, as those in the synagogue had looked at Jesus before his inaugural address in Luke 4:20. Paul uses the same term to refer to the Israelites’ looking at the radiant face of Moses (2 Cor 3:7, 13). Here God’s intervention on Stephen’s behalf is revealed in that his face was like the face of an angel. That is, his face was shining, as angelic “faces” were perceived to be. Stephen’s radiant face recalls Moses after he came down from Mount Sinai (Exod 34:29–30) and Jesus as he spoke with Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration (Luke 9:29–31). As Moses’ face shone after seeing God, Stephen’s face shone on seeing the glorified Son of Man (see Acts 7:55–56).” read more