May the Lord give you peace and health in the Holy Spirit.
It is 25th July 2021. We celebrate World Day for Grandparents and The Elderly on this 17th Sunday of the ordinary time. We reflect on 2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6 and the Gospel of John6:1-15.
From now on for five weeks ahead, we will be reflecting about the Eucharist, the Bread of life.
The readings invite us to reflect our response to those who go hungry. Three words echo all around the readings of the day: Bread, Blessings and Baskets.
Mahatma Gandhi said once, “To the poor man, God does not appear except in the form of bread and in the promise of work.”
In the first reading, Elisha the prophet feeds 100 people with 20 barley loaves. By giving that little in our hands, we create an environment for multiplication. The responsorial Psalm reinstates the theme of sharing bread with the needy, “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.” From the prison, St. Paul encourages the Ephesians to lead a life worthy of our calling by being humble, gentle, patient, bearing with one another in love, and making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. In the Gospel, Jesus feeds many with the little.
We are the Church insofar as we give. A story about a church built on the mountain top in Switzerland. It had no lights, yet all the church services were held in the evening. The villagers who lived on the plains would experience magic happening in the Church. Lot of people used to come for worship with light in their hand in the form of a lanterns and hang it there. The church was glowing in light. And when the church service got over, people leaving with the lanterns in their hand would look as though a river of light descending from mountain to the plains. For many, it was a sign that all was well. God’s light was with them and in them. The only time the little church lit up was when people were there. That’s when it truly became a church.
In the Old Testament, God fed the people of Israel in the desert with manna. But in the New Testament, Jesus gives himself as the food. “Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.” (Is.58:10).
St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta said: “A way of satisfying our brethren’s hunger is to share with them whatever we have to share with them until we ourselves feel what they feel.”
We take many things for granted. When there is a shortage, we begin to appreciate the need for bread. I lived in a situation in Zimbabwe when bread was rationed. One bread was given a family for a week. There are weeks and months we never had bread.
Though food is a necessity, most of us value bread and wine as the gifts from God. Law required to say a prayer for the bread they received. The rabbis taught that a meal without prayer was a meal that was accursed. The poor ate barley bread while the rich ate the bread of wheat. When we treat the bread with respect, we have the sensitivity to share with those who do not have anything at all. If crumbs were “as large as an olive,” it was forbidden to throw them away.
His Holiness Pope Francis teaches us, “Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry. Once our grandparents were very careful not to throw away any leftover food.” As we remember to celebrate our grandparent’s day today, may we continue to carry the treasures of wisdom, and healthy and meaningful things and imbibe them in our lives.
Unity and peace are unachievable when sharing the bread with needy remains a dream.
Feeding the crowd and multiplication of bread are found in all four Gospels.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus enquired Philip to look for bread. Andrew spotted a little boy who had five barley loaves and two fish and was willing to share with the other. Though it did not look a big meal to feed so many, yet they brought them to Jesus. What we all need to learn is that Jesus is not merely a resourceful, but He is the source of the resource. Jesus blesses the bread and gives thanks to God and gave it to the disciple to distribute. Everyone started to unpack what they brought and started to share with the nearby person. When everyone was satisfied, they praised God. John wants to emphasize that Jesus is the source of all nourishment, spiritual and material.
God satisfies our hunger whether it is physical or spiritual. Without addressing the physical hunger, we cannot satisfy the spiritual hunger. Jesus did not satisfy the hunger of the people to become famous, popular or to be a leader.
In His hands, there is no shortage, deficiency, and lacking rather it becomes abundance, and plenty. Jesus is the bread that satisfies the hunger in whole. Dominating people and controlling distribution makes the poor and the needs remain hungry and dependent always. Jesus is challenging us everyone today to look at hands and hearts whether it has been feeding the hungry, the lonely, the orphans, the poor around us.
We all need to have a generous sharing mindset however little we have in our hands. God can multiply them. It is indeed the time to move away from our selfishness to sharing. God’s providence is enormous indeed, yet our generosity makes it tangible and sustainable for the hungry.
The moment we share, all the barriers are broken.
Just like Jesus, we need to take the initiative to feed and nourish others. Jesus begins to satisfy the physical hunger of the people before feeding them with the Word of God. With this pandemic, world hunger has tripled. Khaleej Times, Abu Dhabi reports that about 840 million human beings on the earth remain chronically hungry every day – 799 million of them in developing countries. Every year, 1.3 billion tons of food end up wasted.
We all need to have the sensitivity, generosity, selflessness and sharing behavior of Jesus in our life.
Vatican Council II, in its Church in the modern world, teaches us: “Feed the man dying of hunger because if you have not fed him, you have killed him,”
Unlike the synoptic Gospels where the disciples distributed the bread and wine while in John, it is Jesus himself distributes. He is the Word and the Eucharist.
There is a connection to what happened in the wilderness, in the upper room, and on the altar during the Eucharist. The Lord continues to feed people whether it is the hunger for food, shelter, home, relationship, community, acceptance and recognition, or the profound spiritual hunger for God. Let us not undermine our tiny effort to be generous. Every drop counts.
Let us not take credit for distributing and staying and basking in the praises and reactions of people rather to be of service to all people and continue the mission of Christ in our life.
May we be generous to share some food with the hungry. God bless you.