Daily Readings August 5, 2012

For an excellent explanation of the Sunday readings, see the Sacred Page.

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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 113

Reading 1 Ex 16:2-4, 12-15

In yesterday's reading, we left off where the priests and prophets of Jerusalem were upset with Jeremiah for preaching in the name of God.  But the leaders of Jerusalem saved him from death.  Today we begin with the entire Israelite community enraged with Moses and Aaron.

The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.The Israelites said to them,"Would that we had died at the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt,as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!But you had to lead us into this desertto make the whole community die of famine!"

The Israelites accused Moses and Aaron of leading out of Egypt into the desert to die of hunger.

Then the LORD said to Moses,
"I will now rain down bread from heaven for you.
Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;
thus will I test them,
to see whether they follow my instructions or not.

The Lord said to Moses, "I will use this as an occasion to test the Israelites.  To see if they will obey my words.  I will send them bread from heaven, every day.  And each day, they must get their own portion.

"I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.
Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,
and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,
so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God."

I have heard them complaining.  So, now, tell them, in the evening you shall have flesh and in the morning your fill of bread.  So that you may know that I am the Lord, your God.

In the evening quail came up and covered the camp.
In the morning a dew lay all about the camp,
and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert
were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.

Just as God had said, in the evening, quail came and covered the land.  In the morning, when the dew evaporated, flakes like frost covered the ground.

On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this?"
for they did not know what it was.
But Moses told them,
"This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat."

When they saw the Manna, the Israelites asked, "What is it?"  And Moses said, "It is the bread that God has sent you to eat."

Responsorial Psalm Ps 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54

R. (24b) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

What we have heard and know,
and what our fathers have declared to us,
We will declare to the generation to come
the glorious deeds of the LORD and his strength
and the wonders that he wrought.

R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

He commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven;
he rained manna upon them for food
and gave them heavenly bread.

R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

Man ate the bread of angels,
food he sent them in abundance.
And he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountains his right hand had won.

R. The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

This Psalm teaches several things.  The most important of which is that
Manna is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, the True Bread of Heaven.  The
Gospel will explain this below.

However, the Psalm begins with the words, "what we have heard and know".  This we must understand.  Faith is not passed down in a book.  Faith is passed down by preaching, teaching and the example of those who went before us.  This is the task which Jesus set before the Church:

Matthew 28:19-20

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Reading 2 Eph 4:17, 20-24

Brothers and sisters:I declare and testify in the Lordthat you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,

Addressing the community at Ephesus, St. Paul advises them to leave behind the pagan ways.

in the futility of their minds;  that is not how you learned Christ, 

Christianity is not something which we merely learn intellectually.

assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him,as truth is in Jesus,

Assuming you have been taught the real faith of Christ.

that you should put away the old self of your former way of life,corrupted through deceitful desires,and be renewed in the spirit of your minds,and put on the new self,created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Which is a faith that is lived by setting aside the former sinful ways and beginning to live in the truth and righteousness, which is God's way.

Gospel Jn 6:24-35

In yesterday's Gospel, Jesus had just fed the 5000.  And then when they wanted to force Him to be King, He went away.  We begin this Gospel with the people still searching for Jesus.

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,they themselves got into boatsand came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.And when they found him across the sea they said to him,"Rabbi, when did you get here?"

The crowds were confused that Jesus could slip away from them so easily.

Jesus answered them and said,"Amen, amen, I say to you,you are looking for me not because you saw signsbut because you ate the loaves and were filled.

Jesus did not respond to their question about His whereabouts, but told them precisely why they were even looking for Him.

Do not work for food that perishesbut for the food that endures for eternal life,which the Son of Man will give you.For on him the Father, God, has set his seal."

He tells them not to work for the things of this life, which perish.  But to work for the things of eternal value, which He alone can give through the Father.

So they said to him,"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"

So, they ask Him, "what are these works we must do in order to do what God wills?"

Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."

Jesus answers, "the work of God which you must do is to have faith in me."

Now, this may sound strange to some, especially if they aren't Catholic, because faith is usually not characterized as a work.  But it is a work.  It is a work which we do in response to the grace of God.

But faith is also a grace.  That is why it is called a "work of God".  A grace is a participation in the life of God.  It is God who acts through His graces.  That is why, the Sacraments, where we receive Sanctifying grace, are called, "the mighty works of God."

So they 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.?

Suddenly, they forgot what He did on the plain, feeding the 5000.  Now they want another sign.  Can He make bread rain down from heaven as MOSES did for the Israelites in the desert?

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.

Jesus corrected them, "Moses didn't give you anything from heaven.  My Father is He who gave you the Manna."

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world."

He continued, "the true bread of God is that bread which gives life to the world.

So they said to him,
"Sir, give us this bread always."

And they said, "We want this bread.  Give it to us."

Jesus said to them,
"I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

And Jesus tells them, "I am that bread.  Whoever comes to me will never hunger.  Whoever has faith in me will never thirst."

This, of course, is a preparation for His Teaching on the Eucharist.  In fact, John 6 contains what is titled, the Bread of Life discourse.  Which details that Jesus is the Eucharistic bread of life.

Sincerely,

De Maria