 |
“The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes”
by Tintoretto, 1579-81 |
Readings
for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [2]
Readings
from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
Readings and Commentary:[4]
Reading 1: Isaiah 55:1-3
Thus says the Lord:
All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost,
drink wine and milk!
Why spend your money for what is not bread;
your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Heed me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.
Come to me heedfully,
listen, that you may have life.
I will renew with you the everlasting covenant,
the benefits assured to David.
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Commentary on Is 55:1-3
The
author, writing after the Babylonian exile, offers God’s invitation to the
heavenly banquet in the new Jerusalem, God’s Kingdom. All that is necessary for
admittance is a thirst for the Lord. The theme of gift is emphasized as it is
made clear that it is without cost or merit that eternal life is offered. The
promise of the messiah is alluded to as the prophet recalls that God’s covenant
with David – the continuation of his line, is assured.
The
imagery set forward in this passage recalls the promise of adoption through
living water in baptism (“All you who are thirsty, come to the water!”),
and continued grace offered through the Eucharist (“Why spend your money for
what is not bread”).
CCC: Is
55:1 694,
2121; Is 55:3 762
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Responsorial
Psalm: Psalm
145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18
R. (cf. 16) The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers
all our needs.
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The Lord is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The hand of
the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
R. The hand of
the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The Lord is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The Lord is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The hand of
the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
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Commentary on Ps 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18
Psalm
145 is a hymn of praise. These strophes (because it is in the acrostic form –
each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) are
loosely assembled, giving praise to God for his mercy and compassion, and
giving thanks for his creation and redemption. It looks forward to the coming
of the kingdom of God. God, says the psalmist, rules all things for all time.
There is also a subtle link to the eucharistic banquet as the promise of food
is once more extended.
CCC:
Ps 145:9 295, 342
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Reading II: Romans 8:35, 37-39
Brothers and sisters:
What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Rom 8:35, 37-39
The
premise that the love of God assures salvation to the faithful is strengthened
as St. Paul asks the rhetorical question: “What will separate us from the
love of Christ?” Over all obstacles (human, physical, and metaphysical –
“height and depth” probably referred to ancient astrological terms indicating
the closest proximity and the most distant star from the zenith),the love of
God expressed in Christ is the unshakable foundation of Christian life and
hope.
CCC:
Rom 8:31 2852; Rom
8:32 603, 706, 2572; Rom
8:34 1373, 2634-------------------------------------------
Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21
When
Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he
withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The
crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When
he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his
heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When
it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This
is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss
the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and
buy food for themselves.”
Jesus
said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give
them some food yourselves.”
But
they said to him,
“Five
loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then
he said, “Bring them here to me, ”
and
he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking
the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he
said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and
gave them to the disciples,
who
in turn gave them to the crowds.
They
all ate and were satisfied,
and
they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve
wicker baskets full.
Those
who ate were about five thousand men,
not
counting women and children.
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Commentary on Mt 14:13-21
St.
Matthew’s account of the feeding of the multitudes is framed with Jesus’ grief
over the death of his cousin, St. John the Baptist. He hopes to grieve in
solitude, and so takes a boat to “a deserted place by himself.” While it
is not said explicitly, we assume at least some of the disciples accompanied
him in the boat. When the crowds catch up with him (Jesus is well established
as an important teacher now), he does not turn them away but continues his work
among them.
Possibly
continuing his formation process with the disciples, Jesus tells them to feed
the hungry people rather than dismiss them. The miracle occurs with significant
symbolic numbers associated with it. Five loaves and two fish would add up to
seven, in Hebrew numerology the perfect or most complete number. The fragments
filled twelve baskets, enough for the twelve tribes of Israel. Five thousand
men was a representation for a huge number and probably not meant as a census
of the participants.
For
the early Christian, there would have been even more subtle symbolism, as the
loaves would represent the “Bread of Life,” the Eucharist; and the fish, the
Christian symbol that identified themselves to each other as a consequence of
the Greek letters used. Taken in its larger context the story is preparatory to
Jesus' final trip to Jerusalem.
CCC:
Mt 14:13-21 1335; Mt
14:19 1329
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Reflection:
Here
at the beginning of August, as we contemplate what we will do with the balance
of our short summer months, I would offer you an ancient rhyme:
For
want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For
want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For
want of a horse the rider was lost.
For
want of a rider the message was lost.
For
want of a message the battle was lost.
For
want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And
all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
You
have probably all heard this before. It
has been around since at least the 14th century (and no, I was not
the original author). I think it should
speak to each one of us as we consider what it is that God asks us to do each
day.
It
is probably not what you were thinking about as we heard about the multitudes
following Jesus that day. There are lots
of different images in this story of one of the Lord’s great miracles. But today I ask you to think of the crowd who followed the Lord. They all
were seeking the same thing: that compelling search established in all of God’s
creatures for their creator. Those who
followed Jesus as he mourned the loss of his cousin, St. John the Baptist, were
filled with hope that this man who cured the sick and healed the lame was the
one promised by the prophets, the Messiah.
The
Lord did not disappoint. When it came
time for the vast crowd to eat, Jesus took the opportunity to provide a
spectacular teaching moment to his disciples.
Do you recall his first words to them when they urged him to send the
crowd away?
He
said: “There is no need for them to go
away; give them some food yourselves.”
Even
these men of faith who had been with the Lord for some time did not understand
what the Lord was really saying. They
did not realize that they too had received from Jesus the faith that could
bring salvation to that crowd of thousands.
They did not realize that Jesus was offering them the chance to
participate in his task of bringing the Kingdom of God to earth.
When
they balked and said: “Five loaves and
two fish are all we have here.”
The Lord demonstrated
miraculously the lesson he wanted them to learn. In his miracle about the multiplication of
the loaves he not only showed us his ability to feed us with his body in ways
that could not be explained by physical science, he also taught his disciples
(and us) that with faith in God, everyone can be fed; everyone can receive
God. It is a gift that we, like the
disciples, have been given to share with the world.
Now I am not saying that we
should immediately go out a march down the street to Zingerman’s and try to see
how many can be fed with one of their sandwiches (although that might be an
interesting experiment).
I’d like to give you a quote
from a recent clip I saw from Fr. Robert Barron about “Forming Intentional
Disciples.”
He said:
We all know the bad news that
ex-Catholics make up the second largest religious group in America, that only
twenty-five percent of baptized Catholics attend Mass on a regular basis, and
that the fastest-growing religious group in the United States is the
"nones" (those who claim no religious affiliation). There's a huge
mission field out there, and it begins as soon as you walk out your front
door.”
I would suggest that each of
us in the coming week look for people who could be fed with the love of Christ
and share that spiritual food with them.
It does not matter if they are young or old, rich or poor. Remember, Jesus came so that all peoples of
all nations might find God’s love through him.
He passed it to us so we might participate in his mission and pass it
on. Think of the rhyme at the beginning
– for want of your act of kindness, generosity or sacrifice; the kingdom may be
lost – for someone.
With that firmly in mind, let
us now go forward with our celebration of the Lord’s sacrifice and participate
as he feeds the multitudes here with his Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist.
Pax
In other years on this date:
optional Memorial for Saint Eusebius Of
Vercelli, Bishop
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the
Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation for
Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2]
The picture today is “The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes” by Tintoretto,
1579-81.
[3]
S.S. Commemoratio[4]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the
psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
