Homily
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 2, 2020
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 55:1-3
Psalm 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18
Romans 8:35, 37-39
Matthew 14:13-21
Jesus, hearing of the death of John the Baptist, seeks to be alone. Jesus shows us that at moments like this we all need time to stop, to remember and to mourn what we have lost. The crowd does not give Jesus this time. Not being left alone to reflect on the death of his cousin, Jesus begins to heal the sick. As evening approached, His disciples — in fear that they do not have enough — prompts them to want to send the crowd away, but Jesus does not send them away. Fear scatters where Christ unites.
Instead,
Jesus instructs His disciples to bring to Him the little food available and Jesus
instructs the crowd to sit on the grass. Five loaves and two fish amounts to next to nothing for such a crowd. In
fact, such a small amount is very dangerous in the face of such a hungry crowd,
because scarcity incites fear, that turns to greed, that becomes anger, that
erupts into violence. Yet, Jesus blesses the food and gives it to the disciples
to distribute among the people and amazingly all eat their fill with enough
left over to fill twelve baskets. God’s grace heals us as it more than suffices
for our needs in our scarcity.
In the Gospel, the disciples seem to be more aware of Jesus’
miracle than the crowd is. The crowd of people might not have realized that
they were sharing only five loaves and two fish. But miracles are not always
noticed by those who are most affected by them. Even in His miracles, Jesus is
selfless, drawing attention always to the Father. Jesus feeds all not just with
food, but also with grace and communion. Among the lessons for us in this
miracle are that God makes sure that we have what we need, and that when we
share whatever gifts and talents He gives us, especially when we think that
they are not enough, the consequences are beyond our expectations. Our
insufficiency is itself a gift of grace. Fear scatters where Christ unites.
Isaiah
prophesies the greatest lesson of this miracle in our first reading today. “All you who are thirsty, come to the water.
Come, you without money, to receive grain and eat … to drink wine and milk.”
The prophet invites us, who have nothing, to the banquet where God provides
everything we need and more — when we are willing to let go and give the little
we have. The miracle of the Gospel today foreshadows that banquet — the banquet
where all will gather in the kingdom of God, the banquet of which the Eucharist
is a foretaste.
The
eternal banquet of the Kingdom is foreshadowed by what we have come here to
celebrate and to offer. At this altar, we bring our fears, our failures, and
our inadequacies, and Christ gives us the gift of Himself so that we can love
Him and each other in the gift of His Communion where sin and its effects have
no power. Whether we go away from this altar and table filled or hungry depends
on His gift of our faith. If we believe that like the Apostles, Jesus has
chosen us as friends and sends us to bring His mercy and hope to others, if we
believe that the self-sacrificing love of Christ is the only way to live, then
the miracle of the Eucharist has begun to transform us. Fear scatters where
Christ unites us.
