Gospel – John 6:22-29
The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the lake saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’
The Gospel of the Lord
The Mass intention is for Charles O’Connell RIP – Our Lady’s
Reflection:
My Friends, Sunday last I preached about believing and the importance of believing. The core of our faith is that we BELIEVE!
In today’s Gospel from John, we see the people following Jesus, because they want more of the bread that he had given them. He tells them that the bread they must work and long for is the bread of eternal life and that they must believe in him.
Our prayer teaches us something like this: we will never capture Jesus or pin him down; engaging with Jesus helps us to see what is really in our hearts; our first call is not to do, but to believe.
Unlike the disciples we have not seen Jesus, but we are asked to believe in him. That’s a hard call for us but it’s a necessary one if we are to inherit eternal life!
- Take a moment today to measure your own belief in the person of Jesus?