August 5, 2018 Sunday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time-B
Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15
Psalm 78
Ephesians 4:17, 20-24
John 6:24-35
…he rained manna upon them for food… Ps. 78:24
“…my Father gives you true bread from heaven.” John 6:32
Lord, it would have been the greatest folly in history. After you miraculously led the Israelites to freedom from oppression and slavery they had to pass through a very hostile desert on their way to the land of promise. To allow them to starve in the wasteland would have been tragic. They could not understand because they did not believe. It is a great challenge to hold on to faith in you when our stomachs are empty and we see no way out of our suffering. But you had a wonderful and awesome plan for these your children. You would save them with food from the sky and would lead and care for them for the next thousand years to prepare them to receive you when the time was right. Lord, I often find myself in the desert with hunger and thirst. As the manna and quail saved your people from starvation and nourished them for the journey, so does your body and blood, soul and divinity, which is the Eucharist, nourish us for our journey to heaven. Dear Jesus, I trust in your care and love for me. Feed me with your bread from heaven always. Amen.