The Bread Of Life

Ego sum panis vitae. Et hoc credentibus, quia, sicut dicitur Proverbiorum tertio, lignum vitae est his qui apprehenderint eam, scilicet per fidem; et qui tenuerit eam beatus, qui tenuerit per comprehensionem. Et quod sit panis vitae, ostendit per effectum , quia scilicet dat vitam gratiae et vitam gloriae; vitam graliae, quam non dabat panis ille typicus; unde dicit: Patres vestri manducaverunt manna in deserto. Per quadraginta annos scilicet, sicut dicitur Deuteronomii octavo: Dedit tibi cibum manna, quod ignorabas; et mortui sunt, morte scilicet culpae et infidelitatis; ad Hebraeos quarto: Non profuit eis sermo auditus, non admixtus fidei. Hic est panis de caelo descendens. Per incarnationem , ut, si quis ex eo manducaverit, per fidem et dilectionem; non moriatur, per praevaricationem; quia, sicut dicitur Habacuc secundo, iustus in fide sua vivit. Sicut fides a morte liberat, sic etiam dilectio; primae loannis tertio: Nos scimus, quoniam translati sumus de morte ad vitam, quoniam diligimus fratres; qui non diligit manet in morte. Nec tantum dat vitam gratiae, immo etiam vitam gloriae; propter quod subdit: Ego sum panis vivus. Per essentiam, quia vitam habens in semetipso; supra quinto: Sicut Pater habet vitam in semetipso, sic dedit et Filio vitam habere in semetipso. Qui de caelo descendi, per misericordiae abundantiam; Exodi tertio: Vidi afflictionem populi mei in Aegypto et dolorem eius et descendi, ut liberem eum. Si quis manducaverit ex hoc pane, vivet in aeternum. Per gloriam. De hac comestione Canticorum quinto: Comedite, amici, et bibite et inebriamini, carissimi; hoc erit in gloria. Ab huiusmodi comestione prohibitus est peccator in figura Adae; Genesis tertio: Nunc ergo, ne forte sumat de ligno vitae et comedat et vivat in aeternum. Sanctus Bonaventura, Commentarius In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput VI Source: Here, p681-2

'I am the bread of life.' 1 And this for the faithful, because, as it is said in the third chapter of Proverbs: 'She is a tree of life for those who grasp her,' that is, through faith. 'And he who holds to her is blessed,' 2 who holds by understanding. And what the bread of life may be is shown through the effect, because it gives the life of grace and the life of glory, which the former type of bread did not give. Whence He says: 'Your fathers ate manna in the desert...' That is, for forty years: 'He gave you the bread of manna, which you did not know,' as it says in the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy 3 'And they died,' dying because of fault and faithlessness. In the fourth chapter of Hebrews: 'Hearing the word did not profit them, for it was not joined with faith.' 4 'This is the bread that comes down from heaven.' Through the incarnation, so that if someone eats of it, in faith and love, he shall not die because of sin, because, as it says in the second chapter of Habakkuk: 'The righteous man lives by his faith.' 5 And as faith frees from death, so indeed does love. In the third chapter of the First Letter of John: 'We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. He who does not love remains in death.' 6 Not only does He give the live of grace, but even the life of glory, on account of which He adds: 'I am the bread of life.' Through essence, because He has life in Himself. Above in the fifth chapter 'As the Father has life in Himself, so He has given it to the Son to have life in Himself.' 7 He who came down from heaven, and that by an abundance of mercy. In the third chapter of Exodus: 'I saw the affliction of my people in Egypt and their sorrow, and I came down, that I might liberate them.' 8 'If someone shall eat of this bread, he shall live forever.' Through glory. And concerning this eating, in the fifth chapter of the Song of Songs: 'Eat, my friends, and drink and be inebriated, O dear ones.' 9 This shall be in glory. And from this feasting the sinner is prohibited in the figure of Adam, in the third chapter of Genesis: 'Now he need but take from the tree of life and eat and live forever.' 10 Saint Bonaventura, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 6 1 Jn 6.48 2 Prov 3.18 3 Deut 8.3 4 Hebr 4.2 5 Hab 2.4 6 1 Jn 3.14 7 Jn 5.26 8 Exod 3.7-8 9 Song 5.1 10 Gen 3.22