“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

“Do not work for food that spoils,

but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a

Remember how the Lord,

Your God, brought you through the desert for forty years.

He humbled you, to test you and know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

He made you experience want, he made you experience hunger, but he gave you manna to eat

which neither you nor your fathers had known, to show you that one does not live on bread alone,

but also by everything that comes from the mouth of God.

 

Then do not let your heart become proud and do not forget the Lord,

your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery.

It is he who has led you across this great and terrible desert, full of fiery serpents and scorpions,

an arid land where there is no water. But for you he made water gush forth from the hardest rock.

And he fed you in the desert with manna which your fathers did not know.

 

Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20

Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

1 Corinthians 10:16-17

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion with the blood of Christ?

And the bread that we break, is it not a communion with the body of Christ?

The bread is one, and so we, though many, form one body, sharing the one bread.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

John 6:51-58

am the living bread from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever.

The bread I shall give is my flesh, and I will give it for the life of the world."

The Jews were arguing among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

So Jesus replied, "Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,

you have no life in you. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives eternal life,

 

and I will raise him up on the last day.

My flesh is really food, and my blood is truly drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood,

live in me, and I in them. Just as the Father, who is life, sent me, and I have life from the Father,

so whoever eats me will have life from me. This is the bread from heaven;

not like that of your ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

Lectio Divina 

The Eucharist is true food and drink for us.

 Read: In the first reading, God fed his traveling people with manna in the desert,

the food God provided for His people on their journey. Meanwhile, in the second reading,

St. Paul tells the believers in Corinth that taking the bread and wine is a communion

with the Body and Blood of Christ, forming us into one body in Christ.

In the Gospel, from chapter 6 of John, Jesus declares himself the Bread of Life, giving life to those who eat it.

 

Reflect: The Eucharist is true food and drink for us, but at the same time,

it is also very different from every other food and drink that we take.

The food we eat is transformed into our bodies, but the food of the Eucharist transforms us into the Body of Christ.

Indeed, as we take the Body of Christ, we are being transformed into his likeness and empowered to live out

our identity and call as Christians more effectively. The Lord Jesus is with us; in the Eucharist,

he empowers us as we continue our synodal journey toward the Father.

 

Pray: Father, thank you for giving us your Son as our Bread of Life.

Continue to nourish us so we may be a piece of bread to others.

 

Act: Consider how you can share your resources with those in need.