From the responsorial psalm: “He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven; he rained manna upon them for food and gave them heavenly bread. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:24-35)
So [the crowd] said to him, “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.”
After Jesus had fed the 5,000, the same crowd approaches, still looking to be fed. Jesus knows their hearts and tells them that they are looking for him not because of signs but because they ate the bread and fishes and were filled. He tells them: “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” They question Jesus about doing the works of God, asking him for a sign. Jesus tells them: “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” Finally, he makes clear that the one sent by the Father is who they are to believe in, that in Jesus the Father sends the true bread from heaven. “I am the bread of life,” Jesus says, “whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
Father in heaven, you sent your Son as true food and true drink. Manna was sent as a sign and pointed to you, but Jesus is not the sign but the bread sent from heaven, the Word made flesh—the real presence in the Eucharist. The food that Jesus fed the 5,000 left them hungry for more food, so they followed Jesus. “One does not live on bread alone,” Jesus says, “but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Lord, help me hear the echo of the crowd as I move throughout the day; they asked the right question: “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” And Jesus gave them the perfect answer: believe in the one he sent. Give me the faith, Lord, to hear your every word through Jesus Christ your Son.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.