Today we hear the familiar Gospel story about the time when Jesus had compassion on a large crowd, gathered to hear him preach, and fed them. There are many lessons for us in today’s Gospel. Feeding people meets a basic human need, of course, but there is much more to it. Throughout all cultures, offering food or drink is a gesture of welcome and at least initial trust. It’s an action that invites personal encounter and conversation, even among people who are not naturally on the same page. It’s an action that brings people together around events — the recognition of a birth or a death or promotion or retirement, for example. Sometimes meals are an occasion for remembering something timeless, such as our U.S. Thanksgiving Day and July Fourth, or for Jewish people, Passover. When our Gospel’s impromptu picnic happened, perhaps some of the Jews there thought of meals in their Scriptures, like when the prophet Elisha shared 12 barley loaves with 100 men and also had leftovers (2 Kings 4:42-44). Virtually all those present would have recognized the blessing Jesus said over the loaves and fish as the traditional Jewish meal prayer. And as this story was first repeated and then written down in the Gospels, early Christians would have recognized how this miracle of feeding connected to the Last Supper. Then, Jesus also blessed, broke and shared bread, and asked us to do the same throughout history, with him present to us. Today the deep significance of shared meals is somewhat obscured by “fast food,” preoccupation with cell phones, and too much emphasis on privacy so that we no longer “invite people in.” This Sunday, come to Mass consciously hungry, hungry for what you might most need from the Lord. Picture the Lord giving you and the others gathered with you so much that “they all ate and were satisfied.”
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia; photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash
The post August 2, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Meals: a Sunday Scriptures blog first appeared on Sisters of the Precious Blood.