August 2, 2015

First Reading

The Book of Exodus   16: 2-4, 12-15

16:2	And the entire congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
16:3	And the sons of Israel said to them: “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat around bowls of meat and ate bread until filled. Why have you led us away, into this desert, so that you might kill the entire multitude with famine?”
16:4	Then the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Let the people go out and collect what is sufficient for each day, so that I may test them, as to whether or not they will walk in my law.
16:12	“I have heard the murmuring of the sons of Israel. Say to them: ‘In the evening, you will eat flesh, and in the morning, you will be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”
16:13	Therefore, it happened in the evening: quails, rising up, covered the camp. Likewise, in the morning, a dew lay all around the camp.
16:14	And when it had covered the face of the earth, it appeared, in the wilderness, small and as if crushed with a pestle, similar to hoar-frost on the ground.
16:15	When the sons of Israel had seen it, they said one to another: “Manhu?” which means “What is this?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them: “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

Second Reading

The Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians   4: 17, 20-24

4:17	And so, I say this, and I testify in the Lord: that from now on you should walk, not as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind,
4:20	But this is not what you have learned in Christ.
4:21	For certainly, you have listened to him, and you have been instructed in him, according to the truth that is in Jesus:
4:22	to set aside your earlier behavior, the former man, who was corrupted, by means of desire, unto error,
4:23	and so be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
4:24	and so put on the new man, who, in accord with God, is created in justice and in the holiness of truth.

Gospel

The Holy Gospel According to John   6: 24-35

6:24	Therefore, when the crowd had seen that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they climbed into the small boats, and they went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
6:25	And when they had found him across the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
6:26	Jesus answered them and said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you seek me, not because you have seen signs, but because you have eaten from the bread and were satisfied.
6:27	Do not work for food that perishes, but for that which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”
6:28	Therefore, they said to him, “What should we do, so that we may labor in the works of God?”
6:29	Jesus responded and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent.”
6:30	And so they said to him: “Then what sign will you do, so that we may see it and believe in you? What will you work?
6:31	Our fathers ate manna in the desert, just as it has been written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
6:32	Therefore, Jesus said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
6:33	For the bread of God is he who descends from heaven and gives life to the world.”
6:34	And so they said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
6:35	Then Jesus said to them: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.