The 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2021

Today is Sunday the 1 August, beginning the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time.

One Hope Project sings, ‘Good work in me’. What work is God doing in you today?

Today's reading is from the Gospel of John.

John 6:28-35

Then they asked Jesus, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"  He answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."  So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?   Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."   "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."  Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

It is not unusual for people to ask themselves “what work does God require of me?”  Jesus’s response seems to be “just accept the work God has done for you!”  What does that remind you of in your own experience of God’s dealing with you? 

Does anything make it hard for you to accept what Jesus says?  What is it like when you accept Jesus as God’s will for you?

As you listen again, stay with anything positive that has been around in your prayer ... notice that Jesus calls this “the bread of life”.  Does it nourish you?

“Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."  You might like to make these words your own as you spend the last for moments of today’s prayer in conversation with the Lord.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.