Fr. Roger J. Landry
Church over the House of St. Peter, Capernaum, Israel
Mass during the Pilgrimage of the Leonine Forum
February 20, 2018
Ex 16:2-4.12-15, Ps 78, 1 Cor 11:23-26, Jn 6:24-59
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The readings for today’s Mass were:
A reading from the book of Exodus (Ex 16:2-4. 12-15)
I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you
Here in the wilderness the whole Israelite community
grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them,
“If only we had died at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt,
as we sat by our kettles of meat and ate our fill of bread!
But you have led us into this wilderness
to make this whole assembly die of famine!”
Then the Lord said to Moses:
I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you.
Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion;
thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not.
I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.
Tell them: In the evening twilight you will eat meat,
and in the morning you will have your fill of bread,
and then you will know that I, the Lord, am your God.
In the evening, quailc came up and covered the camp.
In the morning there was a layer of dew all about the camp,
and when the layer of dew evaporated,
fine flakes were on the surface of the wilderness,
fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.
On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another,
“What is this?” for they did not know what it was.
But Moses told them,
“It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm (Ps 78, 3-4a e 7ab. 23-24 25.54 (R. 24b))
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
What we have heard and know;
things our ancestors have recounted to us.
We do not keep them from our children;
that they too might put their confidence in God,
And not forget God’s deeds,
but keep his commandments.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
So he commanded the clouds above;
and opened the doors of heaven.
God rained manna upon them for food;
grain from heaven he gave them.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Man ate the bread of the angels;
food he sent in abundance.
And he brought them to his holy mountain,
the hill his right hand had won.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Reading II
A reading from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (1Cor 11:23-26)
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread,
and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said,
“This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Verse before the Gospel (Jn 6:51)
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.
GOSPEL
✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:24-59)
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum
looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“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.
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.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
So they said to him,
“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?
What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:
‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
So Jesus said to them,
“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.
For the bread of God
is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
So they said to him,
“Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them,
“I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
But I told you that although you have seen [me],
you do not believe.
Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven
not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it [on] the last day.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and
believes in him may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him [on] the last day.”
The Jews murmured about him because he said,
“I am the bread that came down from heaven,”
and they said,
“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?
Do we not know his father and mother?
Then how can he say,
‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Stop murmuring among yourselves.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
‘They shall all be taught by God.’
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
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.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
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.”
These things he said while teaching in that synagogue in Capernaum.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
