Pope Francis: 'go beyond the gift and discover the Giver'

August 03, 2015

Reflecting on the day's Gospel reading at Mass (John 6:24-35), Pope Francis spoke in his Sunday Angelus address of the need to seek God.

"After the multiplication of the loaves, the people had begun to look for Jesus and they found him in Capernaum," Pope Francis said. "These people follow him because of the material bread that had satisfied their hunger the day before, when Jesus had multiplied the loaves ... They had given more value to the bread than to its provider."

"Faced with this spiritual blindness, Jesus points to the need to go beyond the gift and discover the giver," he continued. "With these words, he wants us to understand that beyond physical hunger, man has a different kind of hunger – all of us have this hunger – a hunger that is more important and that cannot be satisfied with normal food."

"Jesus does not eliminate the preoccupation with and search for daily food," the Pope added. "No. He doesn’t eliminate the concern for all of this that can make life more advanced. But Jesus reminds us that in the end, the true meaning of our earthly existence is in eternity, is in the encounter with Him, who is gift and giver. And he reminds us as well that human history, with its suffering and joys, needs to be viewed in a context of eternity, that is, in the context of that definitive encounter with Him."

 

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Further information:

• Le parole del Papa alla recita dell’Angelus (Holy See Press Office)
• Angelus Domini (Vatican YouTube)
• Zenit translation