As we end this eighth week after the feast of Pentecost, our readings are from the Letter to the Corinthians and Matthew’s Gospel. Paul’s words at the end of the reading are profound: The message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation it is the power of God. This is how I thought about these words.

Unless you think about suffering and death as an opportunity to discover the true meaning and purpose of your life, both events are an absolute absurdity. Without putting them into the context of events that can help you grow in our understanding of life, they are horrible experiences and would seem to only express the absurdity of life. Are we humans only here to suffer and then die and drift off into nothingness? That type of thinking, I believe, only promotes hopelessness and despair.

For those seeking salvation, the cross, which is the ultimate symbol of suffering and death, provides hope and insight into the true meaning and purpose of life. These two human experiences are not punishments. They are meant to be instruments of personal growth and change.

Our Gospel reading relates the event when Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and a couple of fish. The actual scene is different in each of the three Synoptic Gospels. Matthew connects it with the killing of John the Baptizer and the withdrawal of Jesus from Galilee. Further it would have been very unlikely that the crowd would leave home for a day’s journey without carrying some food. Also, after the people all eat, the apostles gathered up twelve baskets of left-overs, one basket for each apostle.

Most scholars believe that the ceremonial with which Jesus blesses and distributes the food prefigures the Eucharist and anticipates the Last Supper. Christ is the spiritual food humans need to live like a child of God.

So, if we truly understand the revelation given to humanity by God through the Person of Jesus, we know that the meaning and purpose of life is to grow in our likeness of Jesus, embracing the various experiences of life as opportunities to spiritually grow and change. The example and teachings of Jesus can serve as the support we need in order to live this way. Indeed just as the Eucharist is the spiritual food that God gives us to live like Jesus, so also are His teachings and example.