John 6:30-35

Acts 7:51-8:1a

Psalm 31:3cd-4, 6 and 7b and 8a, 17 and 21ab

John 6:30-35

The crowd said to Jesus:

“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?

What can you do?

Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

    He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

So Jesus said to them,

“Amen, amen, I say to you,

it was not Moses who gave 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.”

So they said to Jesus,

“Sir, give us this bread always.” 

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;

whoever comes to me will never hunger,

and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you cared for your people as they journeyed through the wilderness to the Promised Land. You care for me as I journey through life to the heavenly promised land. Just as you gave your people manna for their journey, give to me the New Manna of the Eucharist and fill my soul with your grace.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Who gave our Ancestors Bread from Heaven to eat? Jesus has just invited the crowds to believe in him so that they may accomplish the works of God. In response, the crowds ask Jesus to work a sign for them and reference Exodus 16:4 and Psalm 78:24. Earlier, when Jesus multiplied the bread for the 5,000, the crowds wondered if Jesus was the Prophet-like-Moses (John 6:14). Here, they imply that Moses gave their ancestors bread from heaven. They could be challenging Jesus to continue providing them bread, just as the Israelites were sustained for decades in the desert. They could be thinking: Jesus did it once for them, but Moses did it for 40 years. If Jesus is truly the Prophet-like-Moses, he needs to continue providing bread like Moses did! But Jesus corrects them: “It was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.”

2. My Father Gives You True Bread: Jesus makes several contrasts between the bread provided centuries ago in the Exodus from Egypt and the New Bread. First, the New Bread is the “true bread.” It is superior to the old manna. The old manna was good to sustain a person for a day, but it did not sustain a person for life. Second, the New Bread will be for the entire world and not just for the nation of Israel, as was the old manna. Third, the old manna was not God. The New Bread, by contrast, is identified with the Son of God himself. That is why we believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. 

3. I Am the Bread of Life: When the crowds asked Jesus to “give them this bread always,” they were asking him to surpass the miracle of the manna during the 40 years in the desert. And Jesus, in response to this request, invited the crowds to a deeper and deeper faith. They needed to believe not only that he was the Son of Man who came to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, but also that he was the Bread of Life sent from heaven by the Father. They need to believe that Jesus was the divine Messiah, the Anointed One, who, through his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, gives life to the world. This eternal life is mediated and transmitted throughout history to the entire world through the Sacraments of the Church. “The gift of the Spirit ushers in a new era in the ‘dispensation of the mystery’ – the age of the Church, during which Christ manifests, makes present, and communicates his work of salvation through the liturgy of the Church, ‘until he comes.’ In this age of the Church, Christ now lives and acts in and with his Church, in a new way appropriate to this new age. He acts through the sacraments … this is the communication (or ‘dispensation’) of the fruits of Christ’s Paschal mystery in the celebration of the Church’s ‘sacramental liturgy” (CCC, 1076). 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are here with me to guide my footsteps. Teach me to be docile to your guidance. Show me where I am needed, inspire my speech to give witness to you and give glory to God, and fill me with your divine love and Holy Spirit.

Living the Word of God: Do I realize my life is an Exodus journey led by Jesus, the New Moses? Just as the people of Israel were tempted in the desert, so also I am tempted to rebel and test God. How is my exodus journey going? What can I do better? Am I grumbling and complaining to God? Or am I rejoicing in how God cares for me each day?