Dear Friends,
 
“Sir, give us this bread always” is the request of the crowds after they pursue Christ and are told about the “true bread from heaven.” However, Christ had already attempted to correct them because of their carnal and earthly desire for mere food. Their request seems sincere, but it is misguided, as they had followed him because of his multiplication of the loaves.
 
We might be surprised that the crowds were so hard-headed and hard-hearted after Christ tries to explain over and over how they should be seeking spiritual nourishment rather than physical nourishment. Isn’t this the way we pray sometimes, though? We “follow” Christ because we seek some short-term benefit. We are totally blind to the immense spiritual benefits that would come to us when we give our lives to him totally. When we don’t receive the goods that we ask for in short-sighted prayer, we go away from Him, feeling unheard and unfulfilled. When we are tempted to do such a thing, we should always remember the saddest part of the entirety of the Gospels: the crowds ceasing to follow Him.
 
In Christ, 
 
Fr Marotti