Sunday 28th of July 2024 - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Kings 4:42-44/ Psalm 144(145)/ Ephesians 4:1-6/ John 6:1-15

We cannot hear the readings for today without thinking about the Eucharist, a word originating from the Greek language meaning thanksgiving. In the celebration of the Eucharist, the bread and wine offered become the body and blood of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit and the actions of the priest. This is the source and summit of our faith. Jesus gives himself to us as food for our spiritual journey.

On the hillside above the Sea of Galilee Jesus saw the large crowd that had followed him and felt sorry for them. Concerned that they had nothing to eat Jesus asked Philip where they could buy some bread for them. Jesus knew how impractical that would be and, in any case, they did not have sufficient funds for such a large crowd. The boy with the five loves and two fish was found and Jesus, having given thanks for the food, started to distribute it amongst the people.

The multiplication of the bread and fish was spectacular, not only was there sufficient to feed the crowd of at least five thousand men, twelve hampers of scraps were collected afterwards. Jesus displayed the abundant generosity of God with this miracle of the multiplication of the food. Far more than was needed was produced. God is ready and willing to feed us with an abundance of good things. The Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, food for our spiritual journey, provided for all who sit down to eat in God’s presence at Mass. Not only that but God will provide an abundance of food for anyone who needs it. With this miracle Jesus mirrored the production of manna in the dessert produced by Moses for his people and the food provided by the prophet Elisha in the first reading, but in this case, Jesus produced a seemingly limitless abundance of food far exceeding the needs of the people there. We might consider this to be wasteful, but it shows the extent of God’s providence.

It is Jesus who is our ford, our eucharist. He gives us his Body and Blood to sustain us through this life. In gathering for Mass to receive this special gift we are all equal in God’s sight and presence and we should look on each other as equals. Our gathering on Sunday unites us in love and peace. Baptism restores the harmony and peace lost through sin, the sacraments of reconciliation and Holy Communion sustains them throughout our lives. Gathering at Mass together reminds us that we are all one as explained in the second reading today. We must bear with each other in charity, complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. A tall order sometimes when people can infuriate us but that is what we are called to in a Christian life. To preserve the unity of the Spirit in the peace that binds us together. We are part of one body with Christ as its head. As the reading says, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all. It is up to us to make this unity a reality in this world as it is in the next.

As we receive Christ in the eucharist let us remember that it is offered to us through the abundance of God’s love for us. It is real food for a real journey and will sustain us on our pilgrimage through this life into the next. It is only available through the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross. He detached himself, emptied himself completely, from God and died as a human so that he could rise again to draw us all through death with him. This was one of the signs Jesus gave through the feeding of the five thousand on the hillside. In the eucharist we are drawn into a unity with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as well as with each other. This unity includes the rich and extensive diversity found throughout the world and down all ages.

May we treasure the abundant gift of the Eucharist, may we let it achieve its purpose of maintaining the harmony and peace we have between ourselves and God.

God Bless Brendan.