(Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Psalm 77; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35)

Our readings today demonstrate God’s great generosity. To those who found the manna and quails in the desert, they were being given sustenance until they reached the Promised Land; this is something which the people in the crowd referred to in their encounter with Jesus in today’s Gospel.  But Jesus pointed out to them that it was not Moses who provided their food, but God. 

If we remember last week’s Gospel, we heard about Jesus feeding the multitudes with a small boy’s picnic.  Jesus gave thanks for the offering, blessed it and broke it to share with more than five thousand men, women and children.  The people of Jesus’ time were great ones for looking for signs. In today’s Gospel, they ask again for a sign; so that they can believe in Jesus.  Jesus tells the people to look beyond the food, to the deeper meaning of the miracle. The essence of the miracle is to draw them closer to God and save their souls.[1] God sends the true bread, which gives life to the world.  Jesus is the bread of life. He asks us to come to Him and we will never hunger again, to believe in Him and we will never thirst.

In St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we are reminded that as Christians, we are expected to live our lives in a certain way.  We are not to live as the ‘pagans live’.  As Christians, we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6:19), so we are to guard against our mind being ‘corrupted by illusory desires’ (deceptive or unreal).  Instead, we are to trust in Jesus; immerse ourselves in the Word of God; allow our ‘minds to be renewed by a spiritual revolution’ and live fully as the new beings our Baptism created us to be, living a life of ‘goodness and holiness of the truth’.

This can only be achieved through Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life; no-one can reach God except through Him.  We do this by listening to the Word of God and receiving the Bread of Life at Mass. By studying and reflecting on the Word of God, between Masses and by putting what we have learned and what we have received into action in our everyday lives.

As a deacon, I am obliged to say the Morning and Evening Prayers of the Church, sometimes these can be prayerful for me, but more often than not I can find this to be a dry, almost functional experience. These are the times I need to remind myself that these prayers are not said for me, these prayers are for the Church and the world the Church exists in. The psalms I read during these times are the same psalms Jesus would have used, these prayers connect me with Jesus. These prayers inspire me to go out and take Jesus to the sick and the housebound, these prayers energise me when I am feeling tired or low.

The message from Jesus today, is that we are to look for what truly satisfies. Today’s world seems to be more about instant gratification rather than taking a long-term view.  Jesus says why look for bread that leaves you hungry or water which will leave you thirsting for more.  He offers something different, revolutionary even; He is the true bread that satisfies. 

In what areas of your life are you left unfulfilled, feeling dissatisfied or looking for more?

Are you constantly looking for something different? 

Jesus has enough to satisfy the deepest hunger – remember his words “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.”

Raniero Cantalamessa, who has been preacher to the Papal Household for the past 3 popes, sums up the importance of the Eucharist, when he said, “the Eucharist is present in the entire history of salvation”.  He supports this by saying “it is present in the Old Testament as a figure, in the New Testament as an event, and in our own time of the Church, as a sacrament. The figure anticipates and prepares the event, the sacrament ‘prolongs’ the event and actualises it.”[2]

‘One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless.           And we though many, throughout the earth, we are one Body, in this One Lord’.[3]

Further Reading

Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)

CCC 1333-1336: Eucharistic signs of bread and wine
CCC 1691-1696: life in Christ

The Eucharist Our Sanctification – Raniero Cantalamessa

Please keep in your prayers this week

  • The sick and housebound, those who are dying and those who are grieving.
  • Father Jean-Patrice that he makes a full recovery.
  • All the staff and pupils of our schools that they have a safe and healthy break over the summer holidays.
  • Bishop Philip on the 40th anniversary of his ordination as a priest.
  • Those who are homeless and those who are hungry.
  • Those who persist in searching for things which cannot satisfy; may they turn to Jesus and be satisfied.
  • Victims of domestic abuse.
  • The communities which are being subjected to violence and disorder at this time.

Deacon Tony

3rd August 2024

[1] Oseagwina Jerome Ituah OCD, Pastoral Review Vol 20. Issue 3, [The Tablet Publishing Company, Twickenham, London, 2024] 79.

[2] Raniero Cantalamessa, The Eucharist Our Sanctification, (The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1993)6.

[3] John Foley SJ, Hymns Old and New,(Kevin Mayhew Limited, Stowmarket, Suffolk, 1989)744.