LECTIO DIVINA 'I am the Bread of Life.  He who comes to me will never thirst" (jn. 6). "Do not work for the food that cannot last but for the food that endures forever (John).  Next meeting Sept 7th).

GRAVEYARD MASSES The final graveyard mass for this year took place on last Monday evening at Kilbrogan Cemetery , where the congregation seems to get bigger and bigger with each passing year.  The Parish Council wishes to thank most sincerely all who helped with the preparations at the various venues particularly the people who provided altars, amplification and seating.

QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK: Q. What was the manna from heaven?

A.        it was the food provided by God for the Israelites during the Exodus.  The name means 'What is this?' It was described as white, powdery stuff, like hoarfrost.  There were three important points about it.  It was a gift from God: it demanded trusting God's promise because people were instructed to gather only sufficient for each day: and it satisfied every taste as 'it transformed itself into whatever each eater V.'ished' (Wis 16:21).  The Gospel of John regards the manna as foreshadowing the Bread of Life offered by Jesus - a Wonderful gift of God, taken on trust in Jesus' words, and responding to every need.

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The Gospel today portrays Jesus in patient dialogue with people who are hooked on bread.  These people are on a treadmill of folly!  They are after something that cannot last.  Jesus, in contrast, is offering them bread that is life-giving.

It is interesting how the word 'bread' in our English-speaking culture has moved far beyond the often tasteless substance we now get in supermarkets, to signifying money (dough) and hard drugs.

What 'bread' are we pursuing?  In today's Second Reading, Paul speaks of people leading aimless lives.

Much of contemporary life is like a doughnut; there is a great hole in the middle!  There is a real emptiness in many people's lives.  The raw pain of the absence of meaning, no meta-narrative to situate their personal and collective life story, inclines so many to kill the pain through overindulgence in drugs, alcohol, shopping and gambling to excess.  Sadly, loneliness and despair may incline some to self harm.

The Gospel today begins with a frenzied scene.  The crowd had free bread yesterday and they are on the hunt for more.  They are like the crowds waiting at the doors of the departments stores for the post-Christmas sales to open.

As Christians, we do recognise the hunger that is within us, but we confess Christ as the one who alone can satisfy us.  By standing on the rock of faith we can avoid being sucked into the stream of illusory desire

Like the Hebrews (in the First reading), we are tempted to abandon the pilgrim road of faith, the march to freedom, and settle for the 'flesh pots of Egypt' and an aimless life.

Some of us may be like the people who say to Jesus 'what must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?' Jesus proposes an extraordinary answer.  'This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.' Here, belief is more than an intellectual submission or confession of faith; to believe is to lean on.  It is a whole person act, an existential posture as some philosophers might call it.

The work is God's.  His purpose is unfolding.  His are is at work and the breath of the Spirit is blowing.  We have but to raise the safl of faith.  The purpose of life is to enjoy the gift of God; new life that will flow into eternal life.