Sunday between 31 July and 6 August
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
First Reading - Exodus 16.2-3, 9-15
A reading from the book of Exodus.
The Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron,
saying, ‘If only we had died,
by the hand of the Lord,
in the land of Egypt, where we ate our fill
of meat and bread.
But you have brought us out
into this wilderness, to die of hunger.’
Aaron gathered the people together,
and said, ‘Draw near to the Lord,
for the Lord has heard
your complaining.
And the Lord says this:
“In the evening, you will eat meat;
and in the morning,
you will have your fill of bread;
and then you will know
that I am the Lord your God.”’
As Aaron was speaking to the people,
they looked towards the wilderness,
and the glory of the Lord
appeared in a cloud.
That evening,
quails flew in, and covered the camp.
And in the morning,
there was a layer of dew,
all around the camp.
When the dew lifted,
there on the surface of the wilderness
was a fine flaky substance,
as fine as frost
on the ground.
When the Israelites saw it,
they asked one another what it could be.
Moses said, ‘It is the bread
that the Lord
has given you
to eat.’
This is the word of the Lord.
Second Reading - Ephesians 4.1-6
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians.
I urge you
to lead a life
that is worthy
of the high calling
that you have received:
a life of humility, gentleness, and patience,
forgiving and accepting one another in love,
and working always
to live in unity
and peace.
For there is one body, and one Spirit,
one hope to which we are called,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all.
This is the word of the Lord.
Gospel - John 6.22-35
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
according to John.
Some from the crowd
stayed overnight, at the lakeside,
at the place where Jesus
had given thanks over the bread,
and the whole crowd had eaten.
In the morning, when they realised
that both Jesus and the disciples
had left, they went by boat
to Capernaum, to look for Jesus there.
When they found Jesus,
they asked him, ‘Teacher, when did you come here?’
Jesus said, ‘You have come to find me,
not because you understood the meaning
of the sign
that you witnessed,
but because you ate your fill of bread!
Do not work
for the food that perishes,
but work for the food
that endures
for eternal life -
the food
that the Son of Man will give you;
for it is on
the Son of Man
that God the Father
has set
his seal.’
They said to him, ‘What must we do
to be doing
the work of God?’
Jesus said, ‘This is the work of God:
that you believe
in the one
that God
has sent.’
So they said to him, ‘What sign
are you going to give us,
so that we may see it,
and believe in you?
Our ancestors
ate manna
in the wilderness;
it says, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’
Jesus said to them,
‘It was not Moses who gave you
the bread from heaven;
it is my Father who gives you
the true bread from heaven -
the bread of God
that comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.’
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 be hungry,
and whoever believes in me
will never be thirsty.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord.