Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 145:8-9,15-18; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21
The first reading is God’s message of consolation to the
Jewish exiles in Babylon. At that time, the exiles were in despair and
desolation. Many of them no longer trusted that God was going to take care of
them. Through Prophet Isaiah, God called upon them: “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 does not satisfy? … Come to me heedfully,
listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you everlasting covenant, the
benefits assured to David.”
This message is very relevant to us during these difficult
and trying times. In one way or another, we are all hungry, thirsty, and sick.
God, the origin and source of life, invites us, “Come to me heedfully, listen,
that you may have life.” The Collect prayer of last Sunday’s Mass reminds us
that without God nothing is holy and nothing has firm foundation. Why, then,
spend our money for what is not “bread” and wages for “what does not satisfy”?
That is, why, then, seek satisfaction and solutions in worldly and ungodly
things?
In the gospel, Jesus withdrew himself to a deserted place to
mourn the death of his cousin, John the Baptist. The vast crowd discovered
where he went and followed him. Jesus was moved with pity and cured the sick
among them, and miraculously fed the hungry crowd with five loaves and two
fish. Although Jesus was grieving, he did not turn the people away. Someone
called Jesus “The Wounded Healer.” John 6:37 says, “All that the Father gives
to me come to me, and whoever comes to me, I shall not turn away.”
We pray that difficult and trying times do not weaken our
faith or make us lose our faith in God. St. Paul encourages us in the second
reading that anguish, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword
must not separate us from the love of Christ. St. Paul adds, “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.” No matter what comes our way, “we conquer overwhelmingly” if we are
close to God through Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 13:6 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and
today and forever.” His saving grace and miraculous deeds remain abundant in
our time. Let us, therefore, accept God’s invitation in our moments of exile,
desert, thirst and hunger, sickness, heavy burden, despair, and desolation.
These are not the moments to seek solutions and satisfaction outside God
(“spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what does not
satisfy”).
In the gospel, when it was evening, the disciples said to
Jesus, ‘“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.’”
Jesus could have decided not to attend to the crowd because it was a time of a
great loss for him, the murdering of his cousin, John the Baptist. Jesus could
have listened to his disciples’ suggestion to dismiss the crowd so that they
could “go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” But he did not.
By his action, Jesus taught his disciples and teaches us a
few lessons: to have hearts of compassion for people in need; that our
difficulties and limitations should not be excuses to neglect or dismiss those
in need; to be wounded healers like him; and that God multiplies abundantly his
blessings when we share the little we have with the needy. We are invited not
only to share material things but also our presence, time, talent, etc., with
the needy.
In one of his homilies, St. Basil the Great challenges those
who are slow in charity: “You avoid meeting people in case you might be obliged
to part with even a little of what you have. You can say only one thing: ‘I
have nothing to give you. I am only a poor man.’ Indeed, you are poor and
utterly destitute. Poor in love, poor in humanity, poor in faith in God…” (On
Charity 3, 6).
A few Sundays ago, we reflected on how the widow of
Zarephath shared with Elijah a handful of flour and a little jar of oil, the
only food that remained for her and her son. What was the result? God
multiplied the flour and the oil and “She was able to eat for a year, and
Elijah and her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of
oil run dry…” (1 King 17:7-16).
God multiplies his blessings for those who trust in him, who
come to him, and who have a charitable heart.
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