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John, Chapter 6:
The miracle of the loaves
1 After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee - or of Tiberias-
2 and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he had done in curing the sick.
3 Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with his disciples.
4 The time of the Jewish Passover was near.
5 Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, 'Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?'
6 He said this only to put Philip to the test; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, 'Two hundred denarii would not buy enough to give them a little piece each.'
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said,
9 'Here is a small boy with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that among so many?'
10 Jesus said to them, 'Make the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down.
11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were sitting there; he then did the same with the fish, distributing as much as they wanted.
12 When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, 'Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing is wasted.'
13 So they picked them up and filled twelve large baskets with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves.
14 Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, 'This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.'
15 Jesus, as he realised they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, fled back to the hills alone.
Jesus walks on the waters
16 That evening the disciples went down to the shore of the sea
17 and got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea. It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined them.
18 The wind was strong, and the sea was getting rough.
19 They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming towards the boat. They were afraid,
20 but he said, 'It's me. Don't be afraid.'
21 They were ready to take him into the boat, and immediately it reached the shore at the place they were making for.
The discourse in the Synagogue at Capernaum
22 Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves.
23 Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten.
24 When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?'
26 Jesus answered: In all truth I tell you, you are looking for me not because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.
27 Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.
28 Then they said to him, 'What must we do if we are to carry out God's work?'
29 Jesus gave them this answer, 'This is carrying out God's work: you must believe in the one he has sent.'
30 So they said, 'What sign will you yourself do, the sight of which will make us believe in you? What work will you do?
31 Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'
32 Jesus answered them: In all truth I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread;
33 for the bread of God is the bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
34 'Sir,' they said, 'give us that bread always.'
35 Jesus answered them: I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst.
36 But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe.
37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me,
38 because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me.
39 Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but that I should raise it up on the last day.
40 It is my Father's will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day.
41 Meanwhile the Jews were complaining to each other about him, because he had said, 'I am the bread that has come down from heaven.'
42 They were saying, 'Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know. How can he now say, "I have come down from heaven?" '
43 Jesus said in reply to them, 'Stop complaining to each other.
44 '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.
45 It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God; everyone who has listened to the Father, and learnt from him, comes to me.
46 Not that anybody has seen the Father, except him who has his being from God: he has seen the Father.
47 In all truth I tell you, everyone who believes has eternal life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead;
50 but this is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die.
51 I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.'
52 Then the Jews started arguing among themselves, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'
53 Jesus replied to them: In all truth I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54 Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day.
55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person.
57 As the living Father sent me and I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will also draw life from me.
58 This is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.
59 This is what he taught at Capernaum in the synagogue.
60 After hearing it, many of his followers said, 'This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?'
61 Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, 'Does this disturb you?
62 What if you should see the Son of man ascend to where he was before?
63 'It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
64 'But there are some of you who do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the outset who did not believe and who was to betray him.
65 He went on, 'This is why I told you that no one could come to me except by the gift of the Father.'
66 After this, many of his disciples went away and accompanied him no more.
67 Then Jesus said to the Twelve, 'What about you, do you want to go away too?'
68 Simon Peter answered, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life,
69 and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'
70 Jesus replied to them, 'Did I not choose the Twelve of you? Yet one of you is a devil.'
71 He meant Judas son of Simon Iscariot, since this was the man, one of the Twelve, who was to betray him.
Eucharistic Miracle
Bolsena-Orvieto, Italy
In 1263 a German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena while on a pilgrimage to Rome. He was described as being a pious priest, but one who found it difficult to believe that Christ was actually present in the consecrated Host. While celebrating Holy Mass above the tomb of St. Christina (located in the church named for this martyr), he had barely spoken the words of Consecration when blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the altar and the corporal.
The priest was immediately confused. At first he attempted to hide the blood, but then he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, the city where Pope Urban IV was then residing.
The Pope listened to the priest's account and absolved him. He then sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. When all the facts were ascertained, he ordered the Bishop of the diocese to bring to Orvieto the Host and the linen cloth bearing the stains of blood. With archbishops, cardinals and other Church dignitaries in attendance, the Pope met the procession and, amid great pomp, had the relics placed in the cathedral. The linen corporal bearing the spots of blood is still reverently enshrined and exhibited in the Cathedral of Orvieto.
It is said that Pope Urban IV was prompted by this miracle to commission St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the Proper for a Mass and an Office honoring the Holy Eucharist as the Body of Christ. One year after the miracle, in August of 1264, Pope Urban IV introduced the saint's composition, and by means of a papal bull instituted the feast of Corpus Christi.
After visiting the Cathedral of Orvieto, many pilgrims and tourists journey to St. Christina's Church in Bolsena to see for themselves the place where the miracle occurred. From the north aisle of the church one can enter the Chapel of the Miracle, where the stains on the paved floor are said to have been made by the blood from the miraculous Host. The altar of the miracle, which is surmounted by a 9th- century canopy, is now situated in the grotto of St. Christina. A reclining statue of the saint is nearby.
In August of 1964, on the 700th anniversary of the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi, Pope Paul VI celebrated Holy Mass at the altar where the holy corporal is kept in its golden shrine in the Cathedral of Orvieto. (His Holiness had journeyed to Orvieto by helicopter; he was the first pope in history to use such a means of transportation).
Twelve years later, the same pontiff visited Bolsena and spoke from there via television to the 41st International Eucharistic Congress, then concluding its activities in Philadelphia. During his address Pope Paul Vl spoke of the Eucharist as being ". . . a mystery great and inexhaustible."
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