Mother Church celebrates Sunday, August 02, 2020 as the 18th Sunday of ordinary time, year A. In this Eucharist, we celebrate the great love of God that not only gives us life, but also sustains that life with the food of the Eucharist, which is the love of God made visible in Christ our Lord. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “God, come to my help. Lord, quickly give me assistance. You are the one who helps me and sets me free. Lord, do not be long in coming. Amen.”
In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah asks a soul-searching question. Why spend your money on food that is not nourishing? He invites us to come to God and be fed by his word. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God remains forever.” If you ever find yourself wondering what your religion has to do with your daily living, Saint Paul reassures you, in the second reading, from his letter to the Romans, that the two are intimately linked because “nothing can come between us and the love of God, made visible in Christ.” In Matthew’s Gospel, we have the famous account of Christ feeding five thousand men, not counting the women and children, with five loaves and two fish. This makes real Isaiah’s invitation in the first reading to come to God for eternal food. Let us pray, in the course of this Eucharist, for the grace to follow Christ more closely, he alone gives us his body and blood as food that lasts forever.
First Reading: 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.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment.
The prophet Isaiah was born in about 765 BC and received his prophetic vocation while in prayer in the Temple of Jerusalem round about 740 BC. His mission was to proclaim the fall of Israel and of Judah as punishment for the nations infidelity. He exercised his ministry for forty years, which were dominated by the growing threat presented to Israel and Judah by Assyria.
He is mainly preoccupied with the moral corruption resulting from the prosperity of Judah. Even though Isaiah’s involvement in his country’s affairs made him a national figure, his greatness lies above all in the religious order. His vision of God is one of a Holy, Strong and Mighty One, the King of kings. Human beings are defiled by sin for which God demands reparation. God insists on justice among people and sincerity in divine worship. God looks for faithfulness among his people and Isaiah is the prophet of faith.
In the passage selected for our meditation, Isaiah tells us that our God is a God of abundance, who invites everyone to his banquet. You do not need money to come to him to be satisfied. In fact, he expressly invites us all, even those who have no money at all, to come to him. Just eat and when you are full, you are free to leave. There is no cost or necessity of winning anything. God is offering humanity the fullness of life for free.
The image created here is of God’s word as true food, a banquet which no material feast can surpass. The question is, if men buy food for sustenance, why do they not take the opportunity to receive free the food which comes from God’s promises. His food assures the Israelites that they will return to the holy city of Jerusalem that is ruled over by God Almighty himself. In our day, God’s abundant food comes to us in the Eucharist, the body and blood of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Let us pray with the Psalmist: “Lord God, you are kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. How good you are to all, compassionate to all your creatures. You are just in all your ways and loving in all your deeds. You are close to all who call you, who call on you from their heart. Grant us the wisdom to recognize your word as true food that leads us to eternal life. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Second Reading: 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.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
Neither the Church of Rome nor Paul himself was free from trials and harassment, but Paul says in this reading that no human suffering breaks the bond which unites Christ and his faithful ones. The Gospel, Paul has told us, is the manifestation of God’s power; this same power overshadows the faithful as an eternal love that dominates everything.
This love motivates all God’s faithful, who will always emerge victorious from all attacks, dangers and sufferings. They do so not through their own efforts but by virtue of the all-powerful assistance from him who has loved them from all eternity and who did not hesitate to have his only Begotten Son die for their salvation.
Nothing that happens to us can separate us from the Lord. As Saint John Chrysostom reminds us: “Paul himself had to contend with numerous enemies. The barbarians attacked him; his custodians laid traps for him; even the faithful, sometimes in great numbers, rose against him; yet Paul always came out victorious. We should not forget that the Christian who is faithful to the laws of his God will defeat both men and Satan himself.”
This is the attitude which enables us to live as children of God, who fear neither life nor death. We should not fear because God is with us and for us. If God is for us, Saint Paul asks, who can be against us? Saint Jose Escriva de Ballaguer urges us, as Christian, to be optimists. Moved by the power of hope, he tells us, we shall fight to wipe away the trail of filth and slime left by the sowers of hatred. We shall find the world in a new light, recognizing that it has sprung forth beautiful and fair from the hands of God. We shall give it back to him with that same beauty. We call on the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith so we too can confront situations that challenge our faith with the same courage as Paul does, knowing that we have the protection of God Almighty. We make our petition through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace on earth and glory in the highest heavens! Alleluia.”
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.
V/ The Gospel of the Lord.
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Comment
The Gospel of today’s Mass recounts how the Lord went off on a boat alone to a deserted place. But when the people found out where he was going, they followed him on foot from their towns. Upon disembarking, he saw before him a great multitude and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. He cured them without being asked. After all, the fact that they had come so far bringing their sick with them was sufficient proof of their great faith in him. With regard to this passage, Saint Mark points out that Jesus spent a lot of time teaching this crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd. (Mk 6: 33-44).
As it was already quite late, the disciples became understandably worried that the hungry crowd could rise up against them. If they did, how could they control such a hungry crowd? So they advised their Master to send them away so they could find something to eat themselves from the villages around. Jesus surprised and scared them even more by asking them not to send the crowd away but to feed the people themselves.
The Lord must have seen the panic in the eyes of his disciples as they wondered how on earth he expected them to feed such a crowd when they had nothing themselves to eat. To save them from further embarrassment, the Lord asked them what they had as food. There was a little boy with five loaves of bread and two fish, a ridiculously small amount of food for such a crowd, his disciples told him.
But what is impossible for man is possible for God. So our Lord asked them to have the crowd seated, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke the loaves and gave them to be shared out. Everyone ate to their full.
We see the Lord taking care of his own, even in the material things of life. All he needs is our cooperation, as he needed the cooperation of his disciples to distribute the food. With our cooperation the Lord is always ready to accomplish miracles, especially for the poor and the needy.
In the miracles of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, our Lord uses the same words that he will later use for the institution of the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday. The liturgy of Holy Mass recalls our Lord’s gesture when he lifts up his eyes to heaven and blesses the bread and wine which he shares with his apostles. The changing of bread and wine into his body and blood, which is offered to mankind as spiritual food, is an even greater miracle for us all.
The miracle by the lakeside shows the men and women around him the power and love Christ has for them. Many of the people even follow him to the desert, traveling without provisions, not wanting to lose anytime in their haste to hear him and to be cured by him. This is a good example for us to follow. We must always come to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In Holy Communion, we receive Christ, the performer of the miracles we have just heard. He waits for us and he misses us when we hesitate to come to him.
As the Responsorial Psalm says, ‘You open wide your hand, O Lord, you grant our desires.’ Christ is waiting for us in Holy Communion, ready to grant us our desires. He cures us of our weaknesses. He protects us against danger, against temptations that would separate us from him. He lifts up our spirits. Let us be thankful to Christ who makes it so easy for us to come to him, even though we may have no money. Let us listen to him and our soul, as Isaiah tells us in the first reading of this day, will live. Amen.
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