From: John 6:22-29

The People Look for Jesus

[22] On the next day the people who remained on the other side of the sea saw
that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat
with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. [23] However,
boats from Tiberias came near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord
had given thanks. [24] So when the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor His
disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking
Jesus.

The Discourse on the Bread of Life

[25] When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi,
when did You come here?” [26] Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the
loaves. [27] Do not labor for the food which perishes, but the food which endures
to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you; for on Him has God the Fa-
ther set His seal.” [28] Then they said to Him, “What must we do, to be doing
the works of God?” [29] Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that
you believe in Him He has sent.”

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Commentary:

26. Our Lord begins by pointing out that their attitudes are wrong: if they have the
right attitude they will be able to understand His teaching in the eucharistic dis-
course. “You seek me”, St. Augustine comments, “for the flesh, not for the spi-
rit. How many seek Jesus for no other purpose than that He may do them good in
this present life! [...] Scarcely ever is Jesus sought for Jesus’ sake” (”In Ioann.
Evang.”, 25, 10).

This verse marks the beginning of the discourse on the bread of life which goes
up to verse 59. It opens with an introduction in the form of a dialogue between Je-
sus and the Jews (verses 26-34), in which our Lord reveals Himself as the bringer
of the messianic gifts. Then comes the first part of the discourse (verses 35-47),
in which Jesus presents Himself as the Bread of Life, in the sense that faith in
Him is food for eternal life. In the second part (verses 48-59) Christ reveals the
mystery of the Eucharist: He is the Bread of Life who gives Himself sacramental-
ly as genuine food.

27. Bodily food helps keep us alive in this world; spiritual food sustains and deve-
lops supernatural life, which will last forever in Heaven. This food, which only God
can give us, consists mainly in the gift of faith and sanctifying grace. Through
God’s infinite love we are given, in the Blessed Eucharist, the very author of these
gifts, Jesus Christ, as nourishment for our souls.

“On Him has God the Father set His seal”: our Lord here refers to the authority
by virtue of which He can give men the gifts He has referred to: for, being God
and man, Jesus’ human nature is the instrument by means of which the Second
Person of the Blessed Trinity acts. St. Thomas Aquinas comments on this sen-
tence as follows: “What the Son of Man will give He possesses through His supe-
riority over all other men in His singular and outstanding fullness of grace. When
a seal is impressed on wax, the wax receives the complete form of the seal. So
it is that the Son received the entire form of the Father. This occurred in two ways;
eternally (eternal generation), which is not referred to here because the seal and
the sealed are different in nature from one another; what is referred to here is the
other manner, that is, the mystery of the Incarnation, whereby God the Father im-
pressed on human nature the Word, who is the reflection and the very stamp of
God’s nature, as Hebrews 1:3 says” (”Commentary on St. John, in loc.”).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Mass Readings

First reading	Acts 6:8-15 ©

Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said. So they procured some men to say, ‘We heard him using blasphemous language against Moses and against God.’ Having in this way turned the people against him as well as the elders and scribes, they took Stephen by surprise, and arrested him and brought him before the Sanhedrin. There they put up false witnesses to say, ‘This man is always making speeches against this Holy Place and the Law. We have heard him say that Jesus the Nazarene is going to destroy this Place and alter the traditions that Moses handed down to us.’ The members of the Sanhedrin all looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel.

Psalm	Psalm 118:23-24,26-27,29-30 ©

They are happy whose life is blameless.

Alleluia!

Though the princes sit plotting against me

I ponder on your statutes.

Your will is my delight;

your statutes are my counsellors.

They are happy whose life is blameless.

Alleluia!

I declared my ways and you answered;

teach me your statutes.

Make me grasp the way of your precepts

and I will muse on your wonders.

They are happy whose life is blameless.

Alleluia!

Keep me from the way of error

and teach me your law.

I have chosen the way of truth

with your decrees before me.

They are happy whose life is blameless.

Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation	Jn20:29

Alleluia, alleluia!

‘You believe, Thomas, because you can see me.

Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.

Alleluia!

Or	Mt4:4

Alleluia, alleluia!

Man does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Alleluia!

Gospel	John 6:22-29 ©

After Jesus had fed the five thousand, his disciples saw him walking on the water. Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves. Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten. When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’

Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs

but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.

Do not work for food that cannot last,

but work for food that endures to eternal life,

the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,

for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’

Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’