There are many fine translations of the Gospels readily available. This paraphrase is not meant to replace them. Rather the intention here is to offer a more contemporary rendering so that you can imaginatively translate the Gospel in your own situation.

This Sunday's Gospel Paraphrased

Jn 6:41-51

The Jews then grumbled, complaining about him because he said, ‘I am the bread which came down from heaven’. And they said, ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son! Why we know both his parents so how can he say, “I came down from heaven.”’
So Jesus said to them,
‘Stop grumbling and complaining amongst yourselves.
No-one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me, draws them and I shall raise them up on the last day.
It has been written in the prophets: they shall all be taught by God. So everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who is of God.
This one has seen the Father. I am telling you this seriously; the person who believes in me has eternal life.
I am the bread of life. Indeed, your ancestors, who ate the manna in the desert, they are dead. This is the true heavenly bread – a person may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread which comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, they shall live forever and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world.

The Psalms are the ancient prayers of the Jewish people, here paraphrased into contemporary language.

This Sunday's Psalm

Ps 33:2-9

I shall bless God in all seasons,
praise continually in my mouth.
In God, my soul boasts.
The humble hear and rejoice.

Glorify God with me,
together we shall acclaim his name.
I sought God and he answered,
releasing me from all my fears.

They looked to God and were radiant,
their faces were not put to shame.
The poor cry out and God hears,
saving them from all their distress.

God’s angel surrounds those who fear him,
encircling them to save.
O taste and see that God is good.
Blest are they that trust in God.

Words cannot contain our desire for God but they help direct our minds and hearts towards God's love and express our needs.

This Sunday's Prayer

Loving God, you know the depths within us that hunger and thirst for the fullness of life. Draw us, lure us, speak to our hearts that we may come close to Jesus and live by his Spirit. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

As a Church we are in a web of wisdom that comes to us both from tradition and contemporary writers. This section offers a summary of some commentaries on the Gospel. Also below is a list of the books and articles that have been consulted in compiling this Sunday's "Pray As You Can" and which could be used for further reading.

This Sunday's Commentary

At this point in chapter 6 of John, it is good to recap just where we are. The crowd have experienced the miraculous feeding. The disciples have seen Jesus walk on water in the storm. The crowd have followed Jesus to Capernaum and, in the synagogue, heard his discourse on the meaning of the miracle of the bread. Throughout this they question, interact, react and finally, most of them, reject him. Today’s reading marks a significant shift in this process. ‘The crowd’ have now narrowed down to ‘the Jews’ who are hostile protagonists. The discussion revolves around Jesus’ origins and the nature of belief. As often happens in the Gospel of John, another part of the Gospel provides insight into understanding a passage. Here the reader is expected to recall Jn 1:17, which describes the relationship between Moses and Jesus. The Law given through Moses is superseded by the grace and truth given by Jesus. ‘The Jews’ have become closed in their belief. One, because they presume that there is nothing more to faith than what they have received from Moses and secondly, because they presume there is nothing more to Jesus’ origin aside from what their experience tells them regarding his parents.

Jesus’ response is to shift the source of faith from what they know to what the Father has to offer. ‘Drawn’, ‘taught’, ‘hearing’, ‘learning’ are all hallmarks of an attentive disciple open to the mystery of God. With that openness comes a shift in the centre of gravity of faith. It relies no longer on past or present human experience. Rather it lies in the mystery of God revealed in the self-giving love of Jesus. This discourse occurs at the time of Passover, and the Jesus’ final Passover, his death and resurrection, are to inform our understanding as is our experience of the Eucharist.

Christian conversion is promoted by conversation. This section is a response to and a development on the knowledge gained from the commentary section.

This Sunday's Exposition

Literal belief is a real problem in the Gospel of John. Those who believe ‘literally’ take what is said in the Scriptures as meaning exactly what is said and, consequently, have their faith constrained by their own understanding of the words and the tradition. For example, the promised Messiah was understood to be greater than Moses and the tradition held that this Messiah would feed the people in a greater way than Moses had with the manna in the desert. This, taken literally, was understood to be a more dramatic miracle than had occurred in the desert. On hearing Jesus’ words in this Sunday’s Gospel, ‘the Jews’ cannot move beyond their own experience of his origins and realise that he was talking on another level of reality. Indeed, their literal understanding was actually a barrier to belief.

Belief, faith of their very nature implies a form of symbolic understanding. In everyday life, when we see a symbol, say H2O, we know it stands for the reality of water. In faith, we move to another level of understanding and see water as a symbol of God’s life in this world. For ‘the Jews’ when they heard Jesus speak of ‘bread’, they thought of everyday bread, while Jesus was using bread as a symbol of the life-giving sustenance he himself was offering.
Faith gives us a new way of understanding reality, which is difficult at times for us to comprehend. Indeed, faith has been described as a face to face vision in the dark. Our normal ways of understanding are darkened, but new levels are opened up within us, that we might be taught by God. Then in this darkness comes a dark light in which we know the very things of God.

Reflection is an essential element of our growth in Christ. As we reflect over what we have learnt and ponder it in our hearts, we come to recognise the presence of God in our lives.

This Sunday's Reflection

Faith: just how are we to believe? Certainly not with the attitudes of ‘the Jews’ in this Gospel: readily complaining, arrogant in their limited knowledge of Jesus and quick to ridicule what they didn’t understand.

In contrast, when Jesus describes the person who believes, he uses a number of verbs that imply openness, receptivity and interaction: being drawn, being taught, hearing, learning. The first verb –drawn- is interesting. We are drawn to what attracts and delights us. Something good appeals to us and seems to reach down within us and impel us to come close, even to commit ourselves to that good. There is always an element of mystery – not a mystery in the sense of being in imponderable question but rather a mystery that yields even deeper results as it is pondered.

What draws you to God? What attracts or delights you about God? These are good questions to ask ourselves. Each one’s answer will be personal and intimate. To find it takes times being quiet and still with God.

One thing I discovered doing this (and I think would hold true for all) is that where I take delight in God is where God delights in me. The particular qualities with which he has created me are the qualities by which I am drawn to love and worship. Such a discovery feeds the heart with hope and assuages our deepest thirst for meaning. When we enter into our delight in God, we enter into eternal life – even in this world.

Looking at art works or movies is a great way to open ourselves to the meaning of the Gospels. Seeing can bypass our preconceived notions, giving us new vistas of enlightenment. With painting or sculpture one needs to sit quietly and absorb the dynamics of the piece. The drama of movies more easily engages us and offers a way to conversation about the Gospel with other members of your family.

This Sunday's Visual Meditation

– Even though this painting by Caravaggio  is not of John 6 but rather of Jesus Blessing at Emmaus, the response of the two men to the blessing of Jesus gives us a sense of the life that is offered by the Bread of Life.

– Manna from Heaven Illumination from The Crusader Bible, France, Paris, 1240

– Jesus MAFA The Last Supper

– Sacrament of the Last Supper by Salvador Dali

–  The Last Supper by Vladimir Zunuzin

The purpose of mulling meditations is to offer a few ideas that one can mull about while doing other occupations. There are many things we do in our day that do not require our full attention - some things which are largely done on automatic pilot - like driving a car or peeling the potatoes. While we give these our attention, part of our mind is still at work mulling on other things and unless it is given something positive to feed on, we easily feed on negative thoughts. Personally I find mulling time the most likely time for God to get through to me. Because I am not so conscious of myself, God gets through the cracks and opens my heart to look at life differently.
Two practical times for mulling can be when exercising and when driving. Some small preparations for integrating such prayer into these exercises can be helpful.

Exercising
As you do your preparatory stretches, pray the line of the Psalm "I praise you God for I am wonderfully made!"
Similarly when doing your concluding stretches use the prayer of St Clare "Praised be you, my God, for creating me!"

Driving
Have some music that you find helps you turn you mind and heart to God and play that for the first 10 minutes or so of your trip.

This Sunday's Mulling Meditation

As you go through this week mull on what you hunger and thirst for. Ask yourself if they are truly your deepest desires. When you notice yourself wanting something, ask what the deeper desire beneath your want is.

In the Letter of James, we are told that the Scriptures are like a mirror in which we can see ourselves. In this type of meditation we take a piece of Scripture, hold it before us and consider what echoes within our heart. These echoes help us to see who we are before God and how we are loved. What usually echoes in us are situations that we are dealing with in our lives. When something strikes us, we do not actively try to solve the situation or work it through. Rather we sit holding it in God's love. The point of such a meditation is to make space within the situation for God's love to be. In 'sitting with' such a situation, painful or sad, we come to recognise the love of God that is at work on our lives. The suggestions for Mirror reflections can also be used for Exercise reflections but wouldn't be advised for Driving Prayer as often some degree of emotion or distraction might rise in such prayer.

This Sunday's Mirror Meditation

Rest in the love of your God.

When you are rest, ponder on how God draws you close. What do you find attractive about God? How does God lure you to come close and trust in the divine embrace? How does God delight in you? What are the places in your life where God has left the traces of his life and love?

Rest in the love of your God.