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Our Sunday Reflection - August 4, 2024
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Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
John 6:24-35
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Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus tells us in the Gospel today, “whoever comes to me will never hunger.” We come to Jesus today, where we encounter him in God’s word, proclaimed to our assembly. We see him in those who minister to us at this Mass. We realize his presence in each other as we pray and sing. Most significantly, we receive him in the Eucharist, when we receive the Bread of Life who satisfies our spiritual hunger, nourishing us for the mission he left us. Let us lift our hearts and voices in his presence.Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word
In Moses’ time, the LORD God sent bread from heaven in the form of manna, which sustained the Chosen People on their lengthy and difficult journey across the desert. Centuries later, God sent the Son, the Bread of Life, who nourishes us now on our journey to God’s kingdom. On our journeys, may we keep in mind that we are called to leave behind our old corrupted, sinful self and “put on the new self,” as Saint Paul wrote, our true self that is founded in Jesus.Reflections
- Especially during Ordinary Time, the first reading is selected to prepare us for the passage we will hear in the Gospel. Today’s first reading must have been easy to choose, for it is referenced in the Gospel. There Jesus explains that it was God, not Moses, who provided the bread that sustained the Chosen People. It is God who has sent bread again, in the form of the Son, who is the Bread of Life. God is the ultimate source of our nourishment on our journeys, whether to the promised land of Israel or to eternal life in the kingdom of God.
- The Chosen People had just complained to Moses and Aaron about their hunger, recalling their fill of bread in Egypt. Yet, they failed to recognize bread under their feet the next morning. “What is this?” they asked Moses (Exodus 16:15). Moses identifies it as bread from God, bread that will save them in the desert. It is also, as we find out later, a foreshadowing of an even greater source of life sent down from heaven: Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, who, similarly, is also unrecognized or misunderstood by the crowd. Do we recognize the Bread of Life when he comes to us today and every day? Or are we invariably asking, “What is this?”
- John sets up this passage of his Gospel by saying that after eating their fill of the miraculous feast Jesus provided, the crowd of people were so intent on pursu ing him that they sailed across the Sea of Galilee to the village of Capernaum. They had seen at least one of the signs that he had performed and been fed as well, so this made sense. But Jesus immediately redirects their thinking: “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life” (John 6:27). As he had earlier invited the woman at the well to accept the living water only he could provide, Jesus now invites the crowd to accept the bread of life he offers. Both the water from the well and the barley loaves can nourish us for only a short time; Jesus can satisfy our hunger and thirst for eternity.
Question of the Week
What have I grumbled about this week on my journey through life? How can the Bread of Life sustain me through a difficulty or hardship like that?
-from Pastoral Patterns
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readings of the mass
LISTEN HERE to the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, August 4, 2024
SELECT HERE for the Readings of Sunday, August 4, 2024
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Offerings
The Sunday offerings are a portion of our blessings that we give to God (Church) in gratitude to what God has done for us...ONLINE GIVING OPTIONS -
Reflections on the readings
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