CHILDREN’S STORY:
One day, Jesus fed a huge crowd of people with only five loaves of bread and two fish.
That evening, the apostles crossed the Sea of Galilee by boat to Capernaum, while Jesus walked there on the water.
The next day, the people got in boats and crossed the sea to Capernaum to find Jesus.
“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,” Jesus said when the people found him. “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.”
“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?” the people asked. “Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
“Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven,” Jesus said. “For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst,” Jesus continued. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Some in the crowd murmured about him.
“Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” they asked.
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” others wondered.
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day,” Jesus said. “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. … Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
READ MORE ABOUT IT:
John 6
Q&A
- Where did Jesus and the apostles go?
- What did Jesus call himself?
ESSAY: Describe what receiving Jesus’ body and blood — the Eucharist — means to you.
BIBLE ACCENT:
In John 6, we can read more about Jesus helping a hungry crowd.
In verse 2, we learn that a large crowd was following Jesus because they saw that he was healing sick people.
Jesus went up a mountain and sat there with the apostles.
He raised his eyes, and he saw that the large crowd was coming to him.
“Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” he asked Philip, one of his apostles.
Jesus already knew what he was going to do but he said this to Philip to test him.
“Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little (bit),” Philip said.
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” said another apostle, Andrew.
Jesus told the apostles to have the people recline on the grass. There were about 5,000 men in the crowd who did so.
Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed them to those who were reclining, and he also gave them as much fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, the apostles collected the leftovers, which filled 12 wicker baskets.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE SAINTS:
St. Paulinus of Nola
St. Paulinus of Nola was born into a wealthy family in Bordeaux, France, around the year 364. He studied poetry and rhetoric, practiced law and held public office.
He married a Spanish noblewoman, and after the death of their infant son in 390, they were baptized and gave up their wealth. They began to live a monastic life, first in Spain, and then in Nola, Italy.
Paulinus was chosen to succeed the bishop of Nola, who died in 409. He served with distinction, and he was devoted to learning, writing and the care of his people.
He died in 431, and we remember him on June 22.
PUZZLE:
Unscramble the words and arrange them to make a quotation from the children’s story.
hits reforve tase overwhe liwl dreab vile
Answers: this, forever, eats, whoever, will, bread, live
Whoever eats this bread will live forever.