Thought for the Week 12th August

A fragment of bread
A fragment of bread
cupped in my hand
torn off from the whole
cupped in my hand,
passed to me.
And I too must tear the body
to share with my neighbour
a fragment of bread
to embody me with them
and he with us.
A piece of bread
a bread of peace
scattered, grown
cut down, mown
gathered, ground
mixed pummelled
risen, fired and found.
A piece of bread
a bread of peace
sliced and toasted
broken shared
around a table
to give us life.
Kate McIlhagga


GOSPEL (John 6.35, 41–51)

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord

Jesus said to the crowd, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’

Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.”
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’