Believing, Belonging and Becoming through Christ
28/07/2024 Year B Mass Book
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024 Year B
In today’s Gospel, we see a large crowd following Jesus because they were impressed by these signs. Who else could turn water into wine or raise a dead boy with a mere word? They wanted to see more, and Jesus didn’t let them down. He performed yet another sign: feeding more than five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish!
Over the next few Sundays, we will hear how Jesus explains this miracle and how important it is for us. He’ll tell us that this multiplied bread points to the true Bread of Life—his own Eucharistic flesh, which he will give “for the life of the world”. He’ll tell us that this special Bread of Life is greater even than the manna that Moses gave the Israelites in the desert. And best of all, he’ll promise to raise up “on the last day” everyone who eats this bread with faith and trust in him
These are only three of the many promises Jesus has made to us. He promises to be with us, to teach us, to heal us, and to lift us up. He promises to feed us with his very life, and after this life, he promises to open heaven itself for us. This is how good Jesus is!
Today is a perfect day to fix your eyes on Jesus, the Bread of Life offered at Mass, and thank him for everything he has promised you. It’s also a perfect day to tell him that you want to keep following him so that you can receive each and every blessing he has in store for you.
“Thank you, Jesus, for giving us your Bread of Life!”