Eighteenth Sunday of the Year [CYCLE B]

MAIN MESSAGE
[This is for reference only. Please do not read it at Mass]

Physical hunger makes a person restless, upset, tired and weak. Spiritual hunger is similar to this.
Every person has an emptiness inside which Jesus alone can fill. He says in today's Gospel:

"1 AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. HE WHO COMES TO ME SHALL NOT HUNGER."

Today we realize that we are hungry - and then turn to the right place - to Jesus, to fill us and satisfy us.

INTRODUCTION:
Celebrant:
Children, Last Sunday we heard the story of the bread and
fish and the hungry people. Today we are going to talk about
hungry people again.
Listen carefully to the readings and see if you can hear what
God has to say to you about being hungry. He will also tell
you how to fill your hunger.

LITURGY OF THE WORD:

Commentator: In both the readings you will hear about

hunger. But they are about two different kinds of hunger. Try
and find out what they are. While the reading is being read,
look at the pictures. They will help you understand.

First Reading: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15.

Psalm: 78:3&4cdef, 23-24,25 &54ab.
Gospel: John 6:24-29.

Homily:
Celebrant: Watch this short act and then we will talk about
the readings. (Short skit is enacted as follows:)
(Anisha, Nina, Leena and Michelle are playing throw-ball.
Other than Leena, the girls are happy and energetic. When
the ball is thrown to Leena she drops it.)
Anisha : (Sharply) What's wrong with you, Leena ?
Leena : (Angrily) Nothing's wrong with me! Just keep quiet!
I hate all of you!
(Throws the ball down and goes away sobbing. She sits down
some distance away, head buried in her lap. The other girls
gather around the mike)
Nina: What's happened to her?
 Michelle: Really, she's become so moody these days!
Anisha: Yes. She's really changed. She looks like a zombie. She can't even catch the ball.
(Teacher walks past)
Girls: (Chant) Good-mor-ning-Miss!
Teacher: Good - morning girls! What's the big discussion about? And how come you're not playing
with Leena today? I thought you were all friends.
Michelle: Actually, Miss, we were talking about her.
Nina: Yes. We can't understand what's come over her. She's acting very weird. She looks half-dead!
Teacher: I think I can help you understand. I've heard that Leena's family is having financial problems
of late. They have no money even for food. If you had an empty stomach day after day you'd
find it tough, too!
[Girls are silent for a while, looking at each other.]
Anisha : Miss, we didn't know! How stupidly we acted!
Michelle: Thank-you for telling us. We'll definitely do something about it.
(Teacher moves off and girls huddle together talking)
Commentator: Well, the girls did take action. They managed to reach out to Leena's family with help of
their parents, and without telling Leena what they were doing. They made sure Leena had a good meal
every day, and soon she was her usual, happy self.

Celebrant:
• Let’s go back to the readings. Who were the hungry people in the first reading? (The Israelites who
had come out from Egypt with Moses]. They were travelling through a desert, where everything is dry,
and there is not much food to eat.
• How was their hunger satisfied? (God sent them quails (birds) and manna - a small seed which could
be made into bread.)
• In the Gospel Jesus also talks about hunger. But he talks about a different kind of hunger. It is called
spiritual hunger. God knows that everyone has an empty space inside which needs to be filled. This
space is not in our stomachs, but in our hearts.
• What happens when your stomach is empty for a long time? Think of the skit, about Leena.
[We are upset, restless, weak and tired. We can't enjoy life) The same thing happens to us if we cannot
fill the empty space in our hearts. We cannot be peaceful and happy. We get angry and upset easily.
• How will we fill the empty space in our hearts, and become happy and peaceful? (By receiving Jesus
into our hearts - He is the bread of life!)
• In the Gospel, Jesus knew that many were following him just because he had fed them with bread and
fish. They were only thinking of their stomachs, and not about their empty hearts. That’s why he told
them, ‘I am the bread of life’ [Indicate the second poster]
• Today, Jesus is looking at all of us here in this church and saying, “Its not enough for you to fill your
stomachs. You need food for your heart also. Come to me and I will make you full and happy.”
FIR ST REA[Remind
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They said, “We wish the Lord had killed us in Egypt. When we lived there, we could at least
sit down and eat all the bread and meat we wanted. But you have brought us out here in the
desert, APPROPRIATE
where we are going to starve to death.”
HYMNS PREPARATION REQUIRED:
The Lord said to Moses: “I will send bread down from heaven like rain for all of you. Each day
ENTRANCE: Enter,
the people can go Rejoice
out and and Come
gather In enough for• thatPractice
up only day. By the readings.
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OFFERTORY: On This Day of Joy • Practice skit.
will obey me. I have heard my people complain. Now tell them that each evening they will
COMMUNION:
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am the Bread of Life Make two
• enough
each morning they will have more than posters.
bread. The people will know
RECESSIONAL: I’ve Got Something
that I am the Lord their God.”
That evening, quails came and landed everywhere in the camp. The next morning dew
covered the ground. After the dew had gone, there were thin flakes that looked like frost all
over the ground. The people had never seen anything like this, and they started asking each
other, “What is it?” Moses told them, “This is the food that the Lord has given you.”
This is the Word of the Lord.
 PSALM : Response: The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

These are things we learned
from our ancestors,
and we won’t keep secret
the glorious deeds
and the mighty miracles
of the Lord.
God gave a command He gave them more than enough
to the clouds, and each one of them
and he opened the doors ate this special food.
in the skies. God brought his people
From heaven he sent grain to the sacred mountain.
that they called manna.

ALLELUIA : Alleluia, alleluia. No one lives on bread alone, but on

every word that comes from the mouth of God. Alleluia.

GOSPEL : A reading from the holy Gospel according to St. John.

The people saw that Jesus and his disciples had left. Then they got into the boats and went
to Capernaum to look for Jesus. They found him on the west side of the lake and asked,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you for certain, that you are not looking for me because you saw the
miracles, but because you ate all the food you wanted. Don’t work for the food that spoils.
Work for the food that gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because
God the Father has given him the right to do so.”
“What exactly does God want us to do?” the people asked. Jesus answered, “God wants
you to have faith in the one he sent.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.

NB. All Readings are taken from the ‘Lectionary for Masses with Children’ canonically approved for use in the USA.