18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Bullet Points (John 6:24-35)

• After multiplying the five loaves of bread and two fish that fed and satisfied a crowd of more than 5,000 people (see John 6:1-15), the people wanted to make him their king, hoping for more benefits that would be advantageous and gainful for them. They tried to seek him, but he withdrew away from the crowd. Later, when the people found him in Capernaum, Jesus met them with a powerful question – What are you looking for, food that satisfies physical hunger or food that gives life eternal?
• To prove Jesus’ claim that he was the Messiah sent by the Father, the people demanded to give them manna—the very same food that their ancestors received from Moses. Jesus reacted by telling them that the manna given through Moses is only symbolic of the Living Bread yet to come—the Bread of Life, which is the Eucharist. The manna given through Moses could only relieve their physical hunger but could not produce eternal life.
• Jesus is the bread of life that He proclaims himself in the Gospel—the true bread that can truly satisfy the hunger in our hearts. Let us hunger for that bread that comes down from heaven—the bread from heaven that produces life.