Sharing life: What are you most and least grateful for this week?

Facilitator reads focus statement: Each of today’s readings illuminates some aspect of today’s feast. Each reading points to the Eucharist as the heavenly bread that feeds us in life’s journey.

If you have not read the commentary before your gathering, consider reading it before or after each reading.

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16

This reading is intended as a reminder to the people of Israel of how God fed the people of Israel in the desert with manna -- miraculous food, which Christians were later to see as a prefiguration of the Eucharist. In this sermon, Moses is seeking to remind his people that they are not to live on bread alone but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. The author of this book, writing hundreds of years after the desert event, issues a strong reminder that just as Israel relied on manna for life in the desert, so the people now must continually depend on the Word of God.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM 147

Most likely, this psalm of praise is chosen for its reference to the wheat with which God fills his people.

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

In this epistle, Paul is writing to a community that is experiencing a lot of division. In this passage, he is using the Eucharist, which is the celebration of Christian unity, to appeal to the Corinthians to work for and maintain unity. The Eucharist unites us with Christ and with each other and commits believers to work for unity with Christ and with each other.

GOSPEL: John 6:51-58

These verses contain the climax of Jesus’ ‘Bread of Life’ discourse, which announced a bold promise of eternal life for all who believe in him and partake of his presence in the eucharist. In unmistakable language, Jesus identifies himself with the elements of our eucharistic sacrifice, namely, the bread and wine. We feed on Jesus by believing or "taking in" his Word and acting on it, and by believing in and "taking in" his divine presence in the bread and wine. Just as we and the substances we eat and drink become one, so Jesus and those who feed on him form an intimate union. The reading also implies that Jesus not merely visits those who feed on him, but he dwells there permanently. The reading concludes with a contrast between Jesus and the manna, which the Israelites received. Jesus, not the manna, is the bread that came, not from the sky but from the very being of God. Those who ate manna died; those who feed on Jesus will live forever.

FAITH SHARING QUESTIONS

1. What verse spoke to you and why?

2. In the first reading, Moses exhorts his people to feed on the word of God. What keeps people from acting on this exhortation?

3. In the second reading, Paul tells us that participation in the eucharist implies a commitment to living a Christ-centered life. For you what is the biggest help and obstacle to doing this?

4. How has your understanding of the participation in eucharist changed or developed over the years?

RESPONDING TO THE WORD

Name one way you can act on today’s readings. Suggestions: The eucharist calls us to be eucharist for others. Be attentive to how you can give and share life with others.

CONCLUDE WITH PRAYERS OF PETITION AND INTERCESSION

Especially pray for the return to Mass of Catholics who rarely attend. Pray that we who do attend may be a good witness to what the Mass proclaims. ©

Special Note: A step-by-step explanation of the Mass is available here .