Jesus was also a human being of His time and place. This means He inherited all the traditions, scriptures and religious practice of His people. That is a part of the reality of incarnation. In today’s Gospel He draws on the Wisdom tradition of Israel, the Exodus story and, we can say, the tradition of the Temple liturgy. One of the aspects of bread is that is nourishes us. Jesus is pointing to himself as the ultimate nourishment for humanity. He also gives himself to us in the Eucharist. He is the fulfillment of all sacred bread and sacred meals of the Old Testament, as well as all the sacrifices.
The most obvious way that we can apply Jesus’ teaching to our lives is by believing in Him, putting Him at the center of our lives and worshiping Him in the Eucharist. There are several ways in which we can do these things, primarily by participating worthily in the sacraments and especially the Mass. As St. Francis de Sales said, “Prayer is the means by which we ascend to God; the sacraments are the channels by which God descends to us.” He also recommends that we go to Mass every week and receive Holy Communion, that we should be free from mortal sin. We can visit the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle and spend time in prayer and adoration. As well as living a sacramental life in the Church, we can try to do the works of love. The love of God, poured into our hearts by the Eucharist, can overflow into the lives of our family and neighbors, and the great family of humanity. Any good work that we do for the love of God and neighbor is a spreading of the goodness that radiates the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.