Today's Gospel reading (Jn 6: 60- 69) brings us to the end of Jesus' discussion about the Bread of Life. Many of His disciples find the teaching "hard" and are not able to accept it, so they left and "returned to their former way of life." The Twelve do not. They stay with Jesus. Why? What is it that causes them not to leave? Jesus asks them that question and Peter says, essentially, that he and the others believe in the person of Jesus, as the "Holy One of God," even if they do not understand His teachings. Peter makes a point that is central to our Christian journey: our faith is in the person of Jesus, not in a set of doctrines. We are Christians because we know and love Jesus, as a person and as the Son of God. If we don't start there, if we start with the logical formulations of an Aquinas or Augustine or someone else, we're basing our faith on human wisdom and, in the end, that will fail us. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to understand the great mysteries of our faith. We can, and should, reflect on the Eucharist and try to grow more fully into that mystery. We can, and should, reflect on the Trinity and try to grow more fully into that mystery as well. But if we think we can get to the point where mysteries like the Eucharist or the Trinity are explained in a fashion consistent with human wisdom, if we think we can explain in logical, objective terms how something that looks and acts like bread and wine has become the body and blood of Christ, we're kidding ourselves. We can't. But we can love, and at some level, understand, our fellow human beings. That's why the Incarnation is such a great gift. In Jesus we have, for the first time in history, a way truly to start to understand the Divine in human terms. So delve into the "hard" teaching around the Bread of Life. But do so always from the perspective of knowing and loving Jesus. After all, He "has the words of eternal life." And He is also one of us.