A New Presentation for Sunday's Liturgy

Click here for: htm file or download (967 kb) Powerpoint presentation
Best viewed in Internet Explorer (set your browser in full screen)

This presentation is originally prepared in Spanish by Fr. Cristo Rey García Paredes, cmf. The original version, along with other very useful materials for pastoral agents and Christians in general can be found at: http://ciudadredonda.org

August 3, 2003 - 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We have been looking for food that lasts,
the true bread from heaven, Jesus himself.
Those who believe in him will never grow thirsty.
May Jesus our Lord be always
our food and drink for life,
and may he always stay with you. R/ And also with you.

A. Jesus, the Food of our Life

Jesus confronts us today with the question: "Why are you looking for me?" Why are we looking for God, for Jesus? Is it merely for the things he gives us? We receive much from God, that is true, but do we look for Jesus for himself, for what he means in our lives? It is he who makes our life meaningful and tells us how we can keep growing as his brothers and sisters. And he also asks to learn from him to give ourselves to others, to become each other's food and drink. Let us ask him to teach us how.

B. Bread Broken for a New World

Many people are hungry today. But is it only for bread or rice or whatever is their staple food? As Christians we have to be concerned about the problem of hunger in the world, but we should not forget the great hunger for human dignity, justice, peace. There is Someone who came among people to satisfy the deepest human hungers and made himself bread for the life of the world. It is Jesus the Lord, here among us. If we believe in him and follow him on his way of self-giving we can work through him and with him to bring to a hungry world the full food that satisfies all hungers.

We now ask the Lord to forgive our sins,
that this eucharist may bring us closer to him
and give us his mentality.
          (PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, bread of life,
you nourish us with your living words:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, bread of life,
you give us yourself to eat and drink:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, bread of life,
you ask us to become
each other's food and drink:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Lord, in your kindness forgive us our sins
and sustain us with your body and blood
on the journey to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray to the Father
that Jesus may be our bread of life
        (PAUSE)
Our living God,
we hunger for lasting life and happiness
and the fulfillment of all our hopes.
Satisfy all our hungers
through your Son Jesus Christ,
our bread of life.
And when he has filled us with himself,
may he lead and strengthen us
to bring to a waiting world
the food of reconciliation and joy
which you alone can give to the full.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

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."

R (24b) The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

What we have heard and know,
and what our fathers have declared to us,
We will declare to the generation to come
the glorious deeds of the Lord and his strength
and the wonders that he wrought.
R The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

He commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven;
he rained manna upon them for food
and gave them heavenly bread.
R The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

Man ate the bread of angels,
food he sent them in abundance.
And he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountains his right hand had won.
R The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

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, that is created in true righteousness and holiness.

When crowd 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 answere, "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 persishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for h 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 at 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."

Commentary

Jesus knew why the multitudes have come to him. They came because they had found satisfaction and fulfillment in the message that he preached. They had been filled with "bread that they wanted to eat." Their hunger and thirst had been relieved by the words of Jesus. And now they wanted more. And Jesus was more than willing to oblige. The great thing about Jesus is precisely that. He knows fully well, the longing of the human heart and is always more than willing to give us from the abundance of himself. We have only to ask. There is a great understanding on his part for what we desire most as human beings, and that is food, spiritual nourishment. Signs are good, wonders are helpful, and pointers along the way telling us that we're on the right track, are much appreciated. But these are fleeting and ephemeral; they're there today, but gone tomorrow. The food that Jesus promises, the nourishment that he proposes to give us, is something that lasts forever, something that time neither corrodes nor erases. He further assures us that unlike the bread that the Israelites ate in the desert that went stale and disappeared, his faithfulness to us will last for all eternity. And this is tremendous consolation, comfort, and fullness indeed!

Read also: • Gospel Reflections by Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R.
          • Biblical Commentaries fro Diario Biblico

A. Hunger for Jesus

As we are gathered here in the name of Jesus our Lord, we bring before him the needs of his people and the hungers of the whole world. Let us say to him: R/ Lord, be the life of the world.

- For the Church, that its leaders and ministers may nourish the People of God with the solid food of the gospel, let us pray: R/ Lord, be the life of the world.

- For the many all over the world today who do not have enough to eat and who are too poor to lead a really human life, that those who can afford may show compassion and work for a decent living for all, let us pray: R/ Lord, be the life of the world.

- For divided Christians, that soon we may break together the one bread of the one Lord, let us pray to the Lord: R/ Lord, be the life of the world.

- 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 our neighbor far and near, let us pray: R/ Lord, be the life of the world.

- For all of us here, that every eucharist may become a real encounter with the living Christ; that he may appease our hunger for the things that last, and help us to love one another more, let us pray: R/ Lord, be the life of the world.

Lord Jesus Christ, be our bread of life in the eucharist, but also be the light and the life of all who seek you, and the fulfillment and joy of all who have found you. Stay with us now and for ever. R/ Amen.

B. Bread Broken for a New World (from the Eucharistic Congress of Lourdes, 1981)

In memory of your Servant Jesus, who broke for us the bread of his love and poured for us the blood of his life, who has made mutual service, sharing and solidarity the signs of a new world, we pray you, God our Father, to send the breath of your Spirit on us, as we say: R/ Let your new world come among us.

- Let the new world come, let the day come when the poor will no longer be in need and rejected by society; let the new world come when all have enough to eat. Let the days come when all will have the heart of the poor, we pray: R/ Let your new world come among us.

- Let the new world come when people will no longer live on bread alone but on the word of their God. Let the days come when people will no longer shut themselves up but open their hearts to praise their God, we pray: R/ Let your new world come among us.

- Let the new world come when all will be called children of God. Let the days come when mercy will be shown to all because there will be peace, we pray: R/ Let your new world come among us.

- Let the days come when there will be no more hatred or wars, when the little ones and the weak will no longer be despised but can be brothers and sisters, at peace and makers of peace, we pray: R/ Let your new world come among us.

Father, let the Spirit of Jesus live in us, that your new world can take shape in us and keep growing. This is our prayer today through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

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 its struggles.
Let them become the living signs
of the presence among us of your Son,
so that he may sustain us
on our journey to 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. R/ Amen.

Let us with one heart and one voice give praise and thanks to the Father, for through Jesus he has given meaning to our lives and the promise of unending life and joy.
Invitation to the Lord's Prayer
In the words of Jesus, our bread of life,
let us ask our Father in heaven
to give us that bread always: R/ Our Father...

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and grant us peace in our day.
Make us new in mind and spirit,
create us anew in your image
and nourish us with the bread of life
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of him
who will lead us into your lasting happiness,
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

The bread that we now break
is the bread of life
destined to be shared by all.
Strengthened by this food,
let us work keep anyone
from remaining hungry and thirsty.

This is Jesus our Lord,
the true bread from heaven
that appeases all hungers.
He tells us now:
I am the bread of life.
Anyone who comes to me will never be hungry;
whoever believes in me will never thirst.
Happy are we to be invited
to eat his body. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

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 in any way.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

The Lord himself has told us today:
"Do not work for food that perishes
but for the kind of food that gives life."
May we seek, then, in life the Lord
and his things of lasting value,
integrity and justice and love.
May this be our way
to God and to our brothers and sisters,
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go as people renewed by Christ,
in justice and holiness. R/ Thanks be to God.

Additional Resource Material for this Sunday

Ideal for catechetical and liturgical dramatization of today's gospel.

In Front of the Synagogue
(Jn 6:24-35)

(taken from the book A Certain Jesus, Vol. 2)
Click here for other Lenten Readings --> Index of A Certain Jesus