As we begin our 4 week examination of Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse from the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus allude to God’s miraculous feeding of the People of Israel in the wilderness with manna. As Tony explains, Jesus speaks of the manna in the desert both to affirm God’s saving action on behalf of the People of Israel in the past, and in order to begin explaining to them how God will continue to work for their salvation in the future through the Eucharist, a new Bread that nourishes for eternal life.
Mass Readings:
Reading 1: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54
Reading 2: Ephesians 4:17, 20-24
Gospel: John 6:24-35
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.