Invitation
May I draw your attention to
The daily reading of the Gospel
This invitation seeks to convey the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, without exception
can experience that joy by opening his or her heart
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day.
Opening Word
What do you think of when you hear the statement
‘people are hungry’?
Do you think of the large proportion of the world’s population who barely have enough to eat?
Who barely have enough to eat?
Or do you rather think of people’s hunger for meaning, happiness and fulfilment in life?
For meaning, happiness and fulfilment in life?
There is hunger and there is famine.
In the case of world hunger, we often lack a just principle of justice.
A just principle of justice.
This other hunger is also often not satisfied.
But those who listen to the Word of God in this assembly
find the food that gives life.
FIRST READING Ex 16, 2-4.12-15
I will rain bread from heaven for you
From the book of Exodus
In those days, when they were in the desert ,
the whole community of the Israelites began
against Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them:
‘If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in Egypt ,
where we sat by the pots of meat and could eat plenty of bread.
‘You only brought us to the desert
To let all these people starve.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses:
‘I will send down bread from heaven.
‘The people must go out daily
and gather a daily supply.
‘Then I will be able to determine whether they will follow My guidance or not.
‘I have heard the complaints of the Israelites.
‘This you must say to them:
At night you may eat meat
and tomorrow morning you will have bread in abundance.
‘Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’
And it was evening when the quails came flying, and the quails
fell all over the camp.
The next morning dew hung around the camp.
And when it had disappeared
there was a thin granular layer over the desert,
as if the ground was covered with frost.
The Israelites saw it and asked:
‘What is that?’
They didn’t really know what it was.
Moses explained:
‘This is the bread the Lord is giving you to eat.’
Reply Psalm 78(77), 3 & 4ab, 23-24, 25 & 54
Refrain
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
All that we have heard and understood,
What was told to us by the fathers.
We will not hide it from their children
But we will tell it to the generation to come.
He commanded the clouds above
And opened the floodgates of heaven:
He rained down manna as food for them,
They received bread from heaven.
Man was allowed to eat the angels’ bread,
He gave them enough for the journey.
Thus He led them to His holy land,
the mountains He had conquered for them.
SECOND READING Ephesians 4:17,20-24
Put on the new man, created in the image of God.
From the holy apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians in
Ephesus
Brothers and sisters,
I beseech you in the Lord:
Do not live any longer as the pagans do in their deceit.
This is not how you have come to know the Christ.
For you have heard of Him
and have been taught in Him according to the truth that is in Jesus:
That thou art the old man of thy former way of life,
ruined by your deceitful lusts,
must put off
and that your whole way of thinking must be renewed.
Put on the new man,
created in the image of God
in true righteousness and holiness.
Gospel verse Mt 4, 4b
Alleluia.
Man does not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL JH 6, 24-35
Whoever comes to me will never hunger again
and whoever believes in me will never thirst again.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
At that moment, when people realised that neither Jesus nor his disciples
That neither Jesus nor his disciples were there
they got into boats
and sailed to Capernaum, looking for Jesus.
looking for Jesus.
They found him across the lake and said to him:
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’.
Jesus took the floor and said.
‘Truly, truly, I say to you:
It is not because you have seen signs that you seek me
but because you have eaten of the loaves
until your hunger is satisfied.
‘Do not strain yourselves for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternity
and which the Son of Man will give you.
‘On Him the Father, God Himself, has set His seal.’
Then they said to Him:
‘What works must we do for God?’
Jesus answered them.
‘This is the work God asks of you.
Believe in the one He has sent.’
They said to Him
‘Then what sign do you do
by which we can see that we must believe in you?
‘What do you really do?
‘Our fathers ate the manna in the desert ,
as it is written:
Bread from heaven they gave to eat.’
Jesus continued:
‘Truly, truly, truly I say to you:
What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven;
the true bread from heaven
which my Father gives you
For the bread of God comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.
They said to him
‘Lord, give us this bread always’.
Jesus spoke to them:
‘I am the bread of life
whoever comes to me will never be hungry again
and whoever believes in me will never thirst again’.
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Continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
Netherlands Bible Society 2004/2007.
Reflections on liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
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