Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (6: 30-35) in which Jesus tells the people ‘it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven’.

Fr Paul says, the Gospel that we hear today launches Jesus’s sermon on the Bread of Life.  The sermon is given in the way that was used at the time of Jesus. As we read these passages over the coming days it will start with a quote from the law. After that will be added a quoted from the prophets. These first two sections say that the Bread of Life must be believed with faith. It must be believed and only in the third part does it say it has to be eaten. And so, Fr Paul says, it is very clear that it is faith first and then the eating.  At the end of this reading, Jesus invites the listener to the banquet of wisdom, and this makes sense when we understand that Jesus has been portrayed as wisdom.

For our reflection, Fr Paul says, as this sermon on the bread of life begins ‘Do I receive the bread of life with faith? Do I believe?’