John 6:35-40

Acts 8:1b-8

Psalm 66:1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a

John 6:35-40

Jesus said to the crowds,

“I am the bread of life;

whoever comes to me will never hunger,

and whoever believes in me will never thirst.

But I told you that although you have seen me,

you do not believe.

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,

and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,

because I came down from heaven not to do my own will

but the will of the one who sent me.

And this is the will of the one who sent me,

that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,

but that I should raise it on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father,

that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him

may have eternal life,

and I shall raise him on the last day.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I have seen your wondrous deeds and praise you for all of your works. Your work of creation is awesome in its beauty and majesty. Your work of redemption fills me with humble gratitude for the sacrifice of your Son. You work now to sanctify me and bring me to eternal communion with you.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Jesus Satisfies: In the Gospel, Jesus emphasizes how earthly food and drink can only satisfy us for a short time. The bread, the manna, given to Israel only lasted a day or two. But when we share in Jesus – believing in him and entrusting ourselves to him – we will be satisfied eternally. When Jesus initially speaks about coming to him and satisfying our hunger and believing in him and slaking our thirst, he is drawing from the Old Testament image of feasting on God’s wisdom and law (see Proverbs 9:5; Sirach 15:1, 3; Isaiah 49:10; 55:2-3). “In this symbolism, to feed on God’s wisdom or Torah means to take it in, to learn from it and allow it to transform one’s life. … As the Bread of Life, Jesus is God’s wisdom, who has come down from heaven and become flesh” (Martin and Wright, The Gospel of John, 124).

2. Work to Obtain this Life-Giving Bread: After revealing himself as the fulfillment of prophecies of Isaiah about not experiencing thirst or hunger in the end-time of salvation, Jesus laments that his hearers do not believe. The need to accomplish the work of God (John 6:29) and heed the will of Jesus’ Father (John 6:40): they need to believe in Jesus to have eternal life. A supernatural act of faith has three key elements. First, it is an assent of our intellect to something we do not see. Second, it is our will that commands our intellect to assent. Third, our will is moved by divine grace. In this way, the act of faith is understood as both a divine gift and a human act of cooperating with God’s grace. As the Catechism teaches: “In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace. ‘Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace’ (Thomas Aquinas, II-II, q. 2, a. 9)” (CCC, 155).

3. The Resurrection and the Life: Through faith in Jesus, the seed of eternal life is sown within us. And just as a seed needs to be nourished and protected as it grows and blossoms, so also the seed of our faith needs supernatural nourishment and protection. We do not live by earthly bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God (see Deuteronomy 8:3). Our faith needs to be nourished by consuming the Word of God in prayer, by eating the Bread of Life and drinking the Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, and by doing merciful works of charity empowered by grace. Only after we die will the seed of eternal life be definitively crowned with glory. We will be raised to life with Jesus and the Father and will await the resurrection of our bodies on the last day. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I believe in you and, like you, will seek to fulfill the will of your Father. Enlighten my mind and heart to know the Father’s will and fill me with your grace and the Holy Spirit to carry out his holy will.

Living the Word of God: Do I see how God has brought good from evil in my life? What have I learned from my failings and sins? Has this experience brought me to a greater humility and trust in God’s mercy?