HANDS OF THE LORD FEEDS US
The central theme of this weekend’s Scriptural readings is that God takes care of our physical and spiritual needs, if we put our trust in Him. He shares with us Jesus as our Saviour and spiritual food, in Word and in Eucharist, thus preparing us for the Heavenly banquet, and challenges us to share our blessings with others.
In the first reading Isaiah consoles the Jewish exiles in Babylon, assuring them of their return to homeland and promising them that Yahweh their God alone can and will provide for their spiritual and physical needs. He will pardon their sins and will offer them participation in His eschatological banquet.
In the second reading from the letter to the Romans, Paul answers the question, "Well, if God loves us so much as to save us by unearned grace, why is everything still so difficult? Why are we suffering?" Paul's response sounds like a lawyer's dramatic closing argument in a hard-fought trial when he declares, “neither death nor life...nothing that exists...can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord." For Paul, these are the trials through which we triumph.
In the Gospel message Jesus demonstrates God’s caring love for us by feeding the people, spiritually by his preaching and physically by the miraculous multiplication of five loaves and two fish, which the apostles had brought for their lunch and which they gave Jesus to feed the people. This miracle shows the Divinity of Jesus, the providing care of God and the compassion of Jesus for the crowd. It is a Messianic sign, presenting Jesus as the new Moses who fed the Israelites in the desert and the new Elisha who miraculously fed the starving people of Gilgal (2 Kings 42-44). The Eucharistic wordings used, and the promise made by Jesus on the following day, that he would give his body and blood as food and drink (John 6:25-70), make the miracle a prefiguring symbol of the Holy Eucharist.
Fr. Joseph Kanatt MCBS
Parish Priest
FIRST READING: (Isaiah 55:1-3) Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty. Though you have no money, come! Buy corn without money and eat and, at no cost, wine and milk. Why spend money on what is not bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen, listen to me and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy. Pay attention. Come to me. Listen and your soul will live. With you I will make an everlasting covenant out of the favours promised to David.
SECOND READING: (Romans 8:35, 37-39) Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried or being persecuted or lacking food or clothes or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.
For I am certain of this; neither death nor life, no angel or prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power or height or depth, nor any created thing can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.
GOSPEL: (Matthew 14:13-21) When Jesus received the news of John the Baptist’s death he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd and he took pity on them and healed their sick.
When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place and the time has slipped by so send the people away and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go. Give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they answered, ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.’ ‘Bring them here to me,’ he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves he handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted and they collected the scraps remaining, twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.
The central theme of this weekend’s Scriptural readings is that God takes care of our physical and spiritual needs, if we put our trust in Him. He shares with us Jesus as our Saviour and spiritual food, in Word and in Eucharist, thus preparing us for the Heavenly banquet, and challenges us to share our blessings with others.
In the first reading Isaiah consoles the Jewish exiles in Babylon, assuring them of their return to homeland and promising them that Yahweh their God alone can and will provide for their spiritual and physical needs. He will pardon their sins and will offer them participation in His eschatological banquet.
In the second reading from the letter to the Romans, Paul answers the question, "Well, if God loves us so much as to save us by unearned grace, why is everything still so difficult? Why are we suffering?" Paul's response sounds like a lawyer's dramatic closing argument in a hard-fought trial when he declares, “neither death nor life...nothing that exists...can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord." For Paul, these are the trials through which we triumph.
In the Gospel message Jesus demonstrates God’s caring love for us by feeding the people, spiritually by his preaching and physically by the miraculous multiplication of five loaves and two fish, which the apostles had brought for their lunch and which they gave Jesus to feed the people. This miracle shows the Divinity of Jesus, the providing care of God and the compassion of Jesus for the crowd. It is a Messianic sign, presenting Jesus as the new Moses who fed the Israelites in the desert and the new Elisha who miraculously fed the starving people of Gilgal (2 Kings 42-44). The Eucharistic wordings used, and the promise made by Jesus on the following day, that he would give his body and blood as food and drink (John 6:25-70), make the miracle a prefiguring symbol of the Holy Eucharist.
Fr. Joseph Kanatt MCBS
Parish Priest
FIRST READING: (Isaiah 55:1-3) Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty. Though you have no money, come! Buy corn without money and eat and, at no cost, wine and milk. Why spend money on what is not bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen, listen to me and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy. Pay attention. Come to me. Listen and your soul will live. With you I will make an everlasting covenant out of the favours promised to David.
SECOND READING: (Romans 8:35, 37-39) Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried or being persecuted or lacking food or clothes or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.
For I am certain of this; neither death nor life, no angel or prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power or height or depth, nor any created thing can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.
GOSPEL: (Matthew 14:13-21) When Jesus received the news of John the Baptist’s death he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd and he took pity on them and healed their sick.
When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place and the time has slipped by so send the people away and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go. Give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they answered, ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.’ ‘Bring them here to me,’ he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves he handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted and they collected the scraps remaining, twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.