Some time after this, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (that is the Sea of Tiberias.) And a great crowd kept following him, because they were seeing the signs which he did for those who were sick. Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with his disciples. It was near Passover, the Jewish feast. Looking up Jesus noting the great crowd coming to him, said to Philip ‘Where will we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he knew what he was about to do. Philip replied ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough for each person to have a mouthful.’

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

I do not accept glory from people.

On the other hand I know you that you do not have love for God in your hearts.

I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me. If someone else comes in their own name, you will accept him.

How can you believe, if you accept glory from one another

and you do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Do not think that I will accuse you before my father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you hope. For if you believe Moses, you would believe in me, for he wrote about me. If you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

If I, alone, testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

There is another, who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony (which he testifies about me) is true.

You sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
Yet, I do not accept human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
That man was the light which was lit and gave light; you all wished to rejoice for a short time in his light.

But I have a testimony greater than John’s. For the works, which the Father has given me to complete, these works, which I do, testify about me – that the Father sent me.

Also the Father who sent me, that one has testified about me. You all have never heard his voice nor seen his visible form. And you do not have his word inhabiting you, seeing that you do not believe in him, whom the Father sent.

You all study the Scriptures because you think that in them you have resurrection life, yet those very Scriptures testify about me and yet you do not want to come to me that you might have resurrection life.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

Truly, truly I tell you that the person who hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has resurrection life, and will not come under judgement but has passed from death to life.

Truly, truly I tell you that the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

I am able to do nothing by myself. As I hear, I judge. And my judgement is just. because I do not seek my will but the will of the one who sent me.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

So Jesus defended himself: ‘Truly, truly I say to you the Son can do nothing on his own authority but only what he sees the Father is doing.

For whatever he has done – these things the Son does in the same way.

For the Father loves the Son and he shows him everything which he does and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may marvel.

For just as the Father raises the dead and makes them live, so also the Son will make live whomever he wishes to live.

For in fact the Father does not judge anyone but he gives all judgements to the Son so that everyone will honour the Son as they honour the Father.

The one who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him.’

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

So because of this the Jewish leaders began to persecute Jesus because he used to do these things on Sabbath.

So he defended himself against them ‘My Father is working until now and I too am working.’

So because of this the Jewish leaders sought to kill him, because he not only used to break the Sabbath, but also said that God was his own father, making himself equal to God.

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

Now that day was Sabbath. So the Jewish (leaders) said to the man who had been healed ‘It is Sabbath, so it is not permitted for you to carry your mat.’ But he answered them ‘The one who made me well – he said to me “Take your mat and walk.”‘ They asked him ‘Who is the man who said to you “Take it and walk”?’ Now the man who had been healed did not know who he was, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that had been there.

Some time after this Jesus found him in the temple grounds, and said to him ‘Look, you are now well, do not sin any longer, in case anything worse happens to you. ‘

The man left and reported to the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

Some time after this there was a Jewish festival and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda; it has five covered walkways. Under these lay a crowd of sick, blind, lame, and paralysed people. Now there was a certain man there; he had been ill for thirty eight years. Jesus seeing this man lying down and knowing that he had been ill already a long time, said to him ‘Do you want to be well?’ The sick man replied ‘Sir, I don’t have someone who might put me in the pool when the water is stirred. While I am going, someone else goes down before me.’

Jesus said to him ‘Get up, take your mat and walk away.’ Straighta way the man was well and he took his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a Sabbath.+

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

So (Jesus) returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. When he heard that he had come back from Judea into Galilee, he went after him and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was about to die.

Jesus said to him: ‘Unless you all see signs or wonders, you will not believe.’ The official said to him: ‘Rabbi, come down before my little child dies.’ Jesus said to him: ‘Go, your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and set off.

While he was going down, his slaves met him with the news that his child was going to live. So he asked them the time he began to feel better. They told him ‘Yesterday, at one o’clock the fever left him.’ Then the father realised that was the time Jesus had said to him ‘Your son will live,’ and he believed and his whole household. Jesus did this as his second sign, when he came from Judea to Galilee.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

Many Samaritans from that village began to believe in him because of the woman’s testimony: ‘He told me everything that I have done.’ So the Samaritans pressed him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. And so they said to the woman ‘We do not believe any longer because of your report, for we have heard him ourselves, and we know that this is really the Saviour of the World.’

After these two days he left there for Galilee. Jesus himself had born witness that a prophet has no honour in his own homeland. So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen everything that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival, for they too had gone to the festival.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius