Memorial of St Anselm of Canterbury
“For I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe—that unless I believe, I should not understand.”
John 6:30-35
“The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.”
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.”
They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.
What do the Fathers say?
St John CHRYSOSTOM. Nothing can be more unreasonable than their asking for another miracle, as if none had been given already. And they do not even leave the choice of the miracle to our Lord; but would oblige Him to give them just that sign, which was given to their fathers: Our fathers did eat manna in the desert.
Whereas many miracles were performed in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert, they remembered this one the best of all. Such is the force of appetite. They do not mention this miracle as the work either of God, or of Moses, in order to avoid raising Him on the one hand to an equality with God, or lowering Him on the other by a comparison with Moses; but they take a middle ground, only saying, Our fathers did eat manna in the desert.
St AUGUSTINE. Our Lord sets Himself above Moses, who did not dare to say that He gave the meat which did not perish. The multitude therefore remembering what Moses had done, and wishing for some greater miracle, say, as it were, You promised the meat which does not perish, and do not do works equal to those Moses did. He gave us not barley loaves, but manna from heaven.
St THEOPHYLACT. He calls Himself the true bread, because the only-begotten Son of God, made man, was principally signified by the manna. For manna means literally, what is this? The Israelites were astonished at first on finding it, and asked one another what it was. And the Son of God, made man, is in an especial sense this mysterious manna, which we ask about, saying, What is this? How can the Son of God be the Son of man? How can one person consist of two natures?
But this bread, being essentially life, (for He is the Son of the living Father,) in revitalizing all things, does but what is natural to Him to do. For as natural bread supports our weak flesh, so Christ, by the operations of the Spirit, gives life to the soul; and even incorruption to the body, (for at the resurrection the body will be made incorruptible.)
He does not say, I am the bread of nourishment, but of life, for, whereas all things brought death, Christ has revitalized us by Himself.
But the life referred to here, is not our earthly life, but that which is not cut short by death: He that comes to Me shall never hunger; and He that believes in Me shall never thirst. i.e. shall never be wearied of hearing the word of God, and shall never thirst as to their understanding:
A quote from St Anselm, saint of the day – “For I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe—that unless I believe, I should not understand.”
On the feast of St. Anselm, we remember that logic isn’t the enemy of faith—it’s the reward of faith. We start with the ‘Yes’ of the heart, and then we spend our lives discovering the ‘Why’ of the mind.”