Monday April 19

Reading 1: ACTS 6:8-15

Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyreneans, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
Then they instigated some men to say,
“We have heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God.”
They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes,
accosted him, seized him,
and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
They presented false witnesses who testified,
“This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law.
For we have heard him claim
that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place
and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30

R. (1ab) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
I declared my ways, and you answered me;
teach me your statutes.
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia: MT 4:4B

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
One does not live on bread alone
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: JN 6:22-29

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.] The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

Intercessions

We now pray for all the things that matter, and say, Lord, hear our prayer.

–   For the Church, that its leaders and ministers may nourish the People of God with the solid food of the Gospel, we pray:

–   For divided Christians, that soon we may break together the one bread of the one Lord, we pray:

–   For all Christian communities, that we may learn to appreciate the tremendous value of the Eucharist and draw from it the strength to commit ourselves to the needs of our neighbors far and near, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

God, our Father,
for this meal of thanksgiving,
we bring before you bread and wine,
the gifts you yourself have given us.
They express our life and our struggles.
Let them become the living signs
of the presence among us of your Son,
that he may sustain us on our journey
to a full and lasting life and joy
and dispose us to give ourselves with him,
for the life and happiness of all your people.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Our loving Father,
in the bread broken for us here,
we recognize him who is the light of life,
your Son, Jesus Christ.
Give us this bread always,
let him be our daily bread,
which tastes better when it is shared
with those who hunger for it in any way.
Grant this through Christ, our Lord.

Blessing

“Do not work for food that perishes but for the kind of food that gives life,” says Jesus. In life then, let us seek the Lord and the things of lasting value. May the Lord bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Commentary

It is important for us once more to remember that the author of the Gospel was not reporting an actual conversation of Jesus and the crowd. It is a theological reflection addressing matters of dispute between the Christian community and their Jewish contemporaries of his time.

Jesus had fed the 5000 with five loaves ‘on the other side of the lake’ and now he is back in Capernaum. But the crowd who saw the miracle – who ate the bread- are in search of him. When they find him, their question: “Master, when did you come here?” Jesus understands their reasons for coming after him. “You look for me, not because of the signs which you have seen, but because you ate bread and were satisfied.”

Remember the story of the Samaritan Woman, who tells Jesus: “Sir give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

John points out to his community the shallowness of their faith. They believe in Jesus to obtain some favors… for a miraculous cure, for success in business, enough food and a comfortable living. And this trend continues even today. We hear about people flocking to places where they could obtain miraculous healings or favors. Jesus gives his followers the invitation to verify, to ask oneself of the motive of seeking the Lord, taking refuge in him, praying, and practicing religion.

John uses the teaching of Jesus as an instruction to such members of his community: “Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life” (vv. 26-27). Jesus teaches that love and sharing produce bread in abundance.

Jesus fed the people to their satisfaction with five loaves and two fish. The five loaves are the five books of Moses – the Torah. And the two fish represented the Prophets and the other scriptures that were used in Israel to complement the Torah. Jesus fed his listeners with the Word of God to their satisfaction. Again, remember the words of Jesus: “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.”

On another occasion when Jesus and the disciples were on the boat and Jesus was warning them “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.” The disciples thought it was because they “had only one loaf with them” (Mk 8:14). In fact, that loaf of bread is Jesus, whose Word is all the food that God has given to his people.

How do we nourish ourselves with this bread? “What must we do?”—the crowd of Capernaum ask Jesus. The answer is the last verse of today’s Gospel:

Not many works, but only one, to believe in him – the Word of God – whom the Father sent. No other thing is required.