First Reading
Ex 16, 2-4.12-15
In the desert the whole community of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron and
said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of Yahweh in Egypt when we sat down
to caldrons of meat and ate all the bread we wanted, whereas you have brought us to
this desert to let the whole assembly die of starvation!" Yahweh then said to Moses,
"Now I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to
gather what is needed for that day. In this way I will test them to see if they will follow
my Teaching or not. "I have heard the complaints of Israel. Speak to them and say:
Between the two evenings you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have bread
to your heart's content; then you shall know that I am Yahweh, your God!" In the
evening quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morning, dew had fallen
around the camp. When the dew lifted, there was on the surface of the desert a thin
crust like hoarfrost. The people of Israel upon seeing it said to one another, "What is
it?" for they didn't know what it was. Moses told them, "It is the bread that Yahweh
has given you to eat."
Responsorial Psalm
Which we have heard and known,
which our ancestors have told us.
We will not keep them hidden
from our children;
we will announce them
to the coming generation:
the glorious deeds of the Lord,
his might and the wonders he has done.
Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven;
he rained down manna upon them
and fed them with the heavenly grain.
They ate and had more than their fill
of the bread of angels.
He brought them to his holy land,
to the mountain his right hand had won.
Second Reading
Eph 4, 17.20-24
I say to you, then, and with insistence I advise you in the Lord: do not imitate the
pagans who live an aimless kind of life. But it is not for this that you have followed
Christ. For I suppose that you heard of him and received his teaching which is seen in
Jesus himself. You must give up your former way of living, the old self, whose
deceitful desires bring self-destruction. Renew yourselves spiritually, from inside,
and put on the new self, or self according to God, which is created in true
righteousness and holiness.
Gospel
Jn 6, 24-35
When they saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats
and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of
the lake, they asked him, "Master, when did you come here?" Jesus answered, "Truly,
I say to you, you look for me, not because you have seen through the signs, but
because you ate bread and were satisfied. Work then, not for perishable food, but for
the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for he is
the one the Father has marked." Then the Jews asked him, "What shall we do? What
are the works that God wants us to do?" And Jesus answered them, "The work God
wants is this: that you believe in the One whom God has sent." They then said, "Show
us miraculous signs, that we may see and believe you. What sign do you perform?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says: They were given bread from
heaven to eat." Jesus then said to them, "Truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who
gave you the bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
The bread God gives is the One who comes from heaven and gives life to the world."
And they said to him, "Give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread
of life; whoever comes to me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in me shall
never be thirsty.