April 30, 2020 – Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/043020.cfm)

by Reverend Deacon Joey Valross Trillo, CSsR

Yesterday, my co-Reverend Deacon, Lemuel, shared a story with me. Once there was a monk who asked their cook, “What do you call a bread with salt? It’s Pan de sal. How about bread with coconut meat inside? It’s Pan de coco. How about a bread with COVID-19? It’s Pan de mic. One more, how about a bread that is full of air? It’s Pan-nuhot.^[1]

Nevertheless, the point is that bread has a lot of varieties. So, if you are bread, what kind of bread are you? 

Our gospel today talks about Jesus, who identified himself as no other than the Bread of Life. He said that he is the living bread from heaven. He added that whoever eats this bread will live forever. And, the bread He shall give is His flesh, and He will give it for the life of the world. 

Indeed, Jesus is the Bread of Life, the Eucharist. Whoever comes to Jesus shall never be hungry. This is the case of Philip in the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles. He consumed the Word who made flesh, Jesus, and lived the life as His disciple. 

In fact, Philip became one of the seven Proto-deacons. He preached the life of Jesus, catechized several communities, and baptized a lot of converts similar to what we have heard in the First Reading. Philip helped the Ethiopian eunuch in understanding the scripture. Then, he told him the Good News of Jesus, which led the Ethiopian to become a follower of Christ. Hence, we can say that Philip is a kind of bread which nourishes other people.

At this time of health crisis, “What kind of bread are you? Are you the kind of bread who energizes people, the one who empowers the medical front liners and the afflicted through appreciation or good vibes? 

Or are you a distasteful bread who posts fake news and rants about poor people whom you claimed as stubborn, undisciplined and not worthy for monetary help?

Or are you the type of bread that is flavorful, the ones who enjoy your family bondings such as doing TikTok as a family?

Or perhaps a spoiled bread who discriminates people from the hospitals?

What kind of bread are you, then?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ask for the grace to become a bread that nourishes, energizes, and satisfies the needs of others, especially the most abandoned. 

We pray that like Philip, we may help others to understand the will of God in this trying times; that you and I will give the same joy experienced by the Ethiopian eunuch. In other words, we pray that we may become a bread-like Jesus, the Bread of life. Amen.

---

[1] Panuhot has no English medial term. It is a belief among Cebuano-speaking Filipinos that Panuhot is caused by air trapped in the body particularly in the muscles which causes the formation of nodules. Nodules, then, creates pain and weakness in the body.