18th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2026 - "Give them some food yourselves"

 

Each of the four Gospels contain several different stories of Jesus eating with people. He ate with Pharisees and Scribes, tax collectors, prostitutes, and public sinners, he of course he dined with his beloved friends and disciples. In today’s Gospel he breaks bread with thousands of people. In so many of these meals recorded in the Gospels, the Lord takes the opportunity not just to eat, but to teach, by word and example, offering, in fact, some of his most important teachings.

For example,. He dined with hypocritical and antagonistic Scribes and Pharisees, why? Of course, to urge them to repent and believe, but also to give us an example. We need to associate even with people who hate us in hope of their conversion—that God willing through conversation and meal, they can get a glimpse of the goodness and truth to which they have become blinded and maybe come to believe.

The Lord ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, why? To show them that God invites all people out of love to exchange the stained garments of sin for the wedding garment of the righteous. And also, again to give us an example. We too are to dine with such people. We are to dine with the unrighteous because that’s what the Lamb of God did in order to invite them to His heavenly banquet.

The Lord ate with his disciples, why? To strengthen them, to teach them, to share intimate moments with them. He dined with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and set their hearts on fire with faith. He dined with the apostles on the seashore even after they fled the cross and went back to fishing instead of venturing to the ends of the world to spread the Gospel. At the Last Supper he gave us his flesh and blood to be shed on the cross so that we may become what we receive in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We are to dine with each other, week after week, at the Lord’s table that our hearts might catch fire, to heal the wounds of sin and division and to be strengthened in love for one another and in holiness for the mission of the Gospel. We are formed as missionary disciples, as Pope Francis rightly said, in the context of what we are doing here, eating and drinking as the Lord commanded us to do.

In the Gospel today, the Lord shares a meal with thousands of people, why? Well, let’s dig in.

Firstly, we see the Lord’s care for the real physical needs of his people. After a day of teaching and healing thousands—he doesn’t want to send them away hungry. Growing up Italian, I get this…no one should leave your home hungry. If you have the chance, feed people. Who doesn’t love being fed. You know someone cares for you, when they feed you. The way to a man’s heart is his stomach, in a very real sense.  

So, we are to feed people. Feed the hungry, it’s an act of charity in imitation of the Lord himself. Notice, too, that none of these thousands of people are named, in the Gospel story today. They are the nameless hungry of the world. We are to feed them, without judgement. They are hungry, so feed them.

Next, is a great detail, and a challenging one. When the disciples bring this concern for the people to the Lord, the Lord responds, “give them some food yourselves.”

“You give them something to eat, you do something to solve this problem.” The Lord speaks those words to you and me.  As members of the Church, God gives us the tremendous responsibility of being his hands and his feet out in the world, feeding the large crowd of the world with physical bread and also leading them to the meal of the spiritual bread of the Eucharist.

Some of you might remember, that In the 1950s and 60s, a movement called Catholic Action which aimed at rallying the Catholic lay faithful for the work of the Gospel out in the world. And Catholic Action had a motto, very simple, three words. “see, judge, act.”  See, judge, act.  First see, open your eyes to what is going on in the Church and in society and in your neighborhood.  Second, judge: make a determination of what can I do, how can I help, how can I serve.  And thirdly, act—if you can do it, do it.

“You give them something to eat.” This is a very challenging teaching because we have a tendency to want to pass the buck on to someone else.  We see a problem and say “someone ought to do something, someone ought to take care of this.”  But today’s Gospel challenges our tendency to remain uninvolved or paralyzed by fear. “You give them something to eat”.

We have a personal responsibility to do what we can in all the different dimensions of the life of the Church:  standing up for life, standing up for religious freedom or the rights of the oppressed, feeding the poor, teaching the ignorant, spreading the Gospel, it’s not merely the pope’s job, or the bishop’s job, or the pastor’s job; every Catholic bears the responsibility for the work of the Church and spreading the Gospel. “You give them something to eat.”

So, on one hand, we have a personal responsibility for the work of God, but, thankfully, on the other hand, we are in it together, we are to work together. The Lord’s command is addressed in the plural—“you all together give them something to eat”, but that just means doing everything I can to work together with my brothers and sisters in Christ for the mission of the Gospel. We bear personal responsibility to work together.

Then at the heart of the story is the miracle. When told to feed the thousands, the disciples do what they can, they gather food, but they find, that it is not enough. “All we have are these five loaves, a couple fish.” So the Lord responds,  “Give them to me!” 

The spiritual lesson?  You and I are to give what we have, even if it is very little, to Christ and it will be multiplied.  Give Christ your mind, your will, your energy, your compassion, your earthly treasures.  See, judge act. Give it to Christ, and you will find that it becomes multiplied for his purposes. 

Catholic parishes, like ours, are just like that small group of disciples, looking at its meager possessions, saying, what can we do with these fives loaves and two fish. But coming together, despite our limitations, we offer what we have to the Lord, and the Lord multiplies.

I’ve been so impressed over this last year as pastor to witness the great generosity of so many of you—giving your time, talent, and treasure for the mission of the parish, and I’m very excited for the years ahead, to witness how the Lord continues to multiply the gifts that are brought forth to him.

But I do encourage you, please consider how you can contribute to the mission of the parish—whether in volunteering in our parish events, participating in ministries, or discerning new ones. I love when parishioners come to me with ideas of ways they’d like to get involved. I love helping you discern how you can put your gifts and talents—your loaves and fish--in service to God.

So, I repeat the invitation I made when I began my pastorate, if there’s any ministry that you’d like to get involved in, or a ministry that you’d like to start up, please let me know. That’s why we are here, To see, judge, act, and to put our loaves and fishes into the hands of God.

In your daily prayer especially, ask the Lord, what can I do to help, what are the needs that I am called to act upon, what are the loaves and fishes of my life, that you want me to hand over to you, how are you calling me to work together with my fellow parishioners, my brothers and sisters in Christ, for the work God has for us, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

 

30th Week in Ordinary Time 2021 - Friday - The Lord feeds, heals, and quenches

 All four Gospels contain accounts of the Lord eating and dining. All four record the last supper, for example. But Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record the Lord’s supper in the house of the tax collector Levi and St. John is the only to record the Lord’s attendance at the wedding feast at Cana.

St. Luke is the only evangelist to record the meal in today’s Gospel passage in which the Lord heals the man with dropsy in the house of a pharisee on the sabbath.

This story is not the first time that the Lord has healed someone on the sabbath, but it is the first time he heals someone at a meal. He combines healing and eating. It’s also interesting who he heals. He heals a man with dropsy. Dropsy is a condition in which there is a build-up of fluid in a persons tissues, and so because of this imbalance with fluid, the person with dropsy is always thirsty—they are perpetually thirsty. And so here the Lord combines healing and eating and satisfying unending thirst.

What does that makes you think of? I don’t know about you, but this certainly makes me think of what we’re doing right now. In the celebration of Mass, the Lord feeds, the Lord quenches thirst, and the Lord heals

In the Eucharist, the Lord feeds us with his body and blood, giving us spiritual nourishment for the work of the Gospel and the pilgrimage to heaven. In the Eucharist, the Lord heals us of sinfulness, pride, grief, loneliness, division, and estrangement from God. And in the Eucharist the Lord quenches our thirst for the infinite God—like a dry weary desert our souls thirst for Him, and here that thirst is quenched.

Commenting particularly on the healing properties of the Eucharist, Pope Francis, said a few years ago, that the Eucharist is “powerful medicine for the weak”. We have many weaknesses: fear in preaching the Gospel, timidity in doing the work of the Lord, weaknesses of the flesh, the lack of willingness to suffer for Christ, temptations to sin, concupiscence. And the Eucharist is medicine for these weaknesses. And those who deprive themselves of the Eucharist, refusing to go to mass, deprive themselves of real medicine the Lord wishes to apply to their souls.

The Eucharist is also medicine for the greatest of our weaknesses: mortality. 

St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing to the Ephesians said that the Eucharist is the “medicine of immortality…and the antidote  which  wards  off  death.” It “yields continuous life  in union with Jesus Christ.”

May we dispose our souls as often as possible to this food from heaven, the food that heals, the food that quenches for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For those who are deprived of the Eucharist, for lapsed Catholics, for the unbelieving, for those who doubt the Lord’s real presence, for those who have hardened their hearts toward God, and for a deeper appreciation of the great gift of the Eucharist among all God’s people. Let us pray to the Lord.

That young people will be blessed with good Christian example from their parents and fellow Christians, and that the word of God might be cherished, studied, and practiced in every Christian home. 

During and following this month of October, dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, Catholics may take up this devotion with renewed vigor and trust in Our Lady’s never-failing intercession. 

For the healing of all those afflicted with physical, mental, emotional illness, for those in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care, those struggling with addictions, for those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for deceased clergy and religious, for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

Easter Octave 2018 - Friday - "Come Have Breakfast"

When the angel appeared to the women at the empty tomb, the angel told them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee, and there they shall see the Lord. Well, today, we hear how they have gone to Galilee—the Sea of Tiberius is another name for the Sea of Galilee—and there they see the Lord. Why they decided to go fishing is questionable, shouldn’t they have been focusing on looking for Jesus instead of retreating back to their comfort zones?

Well, they might not having been looking for Jesus, but Jesus was looking for them. And making their way to shore, Jesus says to them, “come, have breakfast”.  There is something special about breakfast. It’s not a royal banquet, it’s a simple, yet intimate meal, typically shared with family. It’s informal, everybody might still be a bit disheveled, not everyone is washed. The disciples, after a night of working, certainly fit this description.

And Jesus is the one here who makes breakfast for the group. Like a parent for children, still groggy from sleep. In fact, Jesus calls the disciples “children” here, doesn’t he. And just like groggy children, the disciples didn’t seem quite awake when they first saw the Lord.

This is also going to be a moment of reconciliation and a sharing of love, just like the family table is meant to be. For it was beside a charcoal fire that Peter denied Jesus, and now beside a charcoal fire, Peter will express his sorrow and his love for Jesus.

Jesus knew the disciples would be hungry after a night of fishing, but no doubt they were hungrier for the truth: that Jesus was with them, that he had indeed risen from the dead, that their first two encounters with him weren’t hallucinations, he wasn’t a ghost, and that he was continuing to prepare them for the great mission of spreading the good news, making disciples, teaching all nations that salvation is found in Him.

We are like the disciples here, groggy, a bit distracted, disheveled from all of our worldly business. And Jesus, calls out to us, often in a voice we don’t initially recognize, to come and to be renewed in faith, to be reconciled with Him, to deepen our love for Him. Jesus knew the disciples needed to be strengthened for their mission, so he feeds them, and he feeds us too, in intimate moments of prayer and with His Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

But he does so, that we may wake up, and shrug off our grogginess, and be ever more focused and intent on spreading the Gospel and building up His Body the Church, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ.

For our own community, that it may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received.

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.

Monday - 31st Week of OT 2017 - Room at the Table

Have you ever noticed how many times Jesus is either sitting at a meal or talking about meals in his parables? Meals feature so prominently in the gospels that scholars have commented: ‘Jesus ate his way through the Gospels.’ A Catholic Scripture scholar even commented, “‘… they killed him because of the way he ate; because he ate and drank with sinners.’ Jesus revealed the Kingdom as he shared meals with others, and so we have much to learn from where he ate and with whom he ate.

The first half of the Gospel of Luke, from which we find our Gospel passage today, Jesus is dining at the home of a leading Pharisee, and he gives a series of lessons.

First, he speaks about the licitness of healing on the Sabbath. Then, upon noticing how the the dinner guests picked the places of honor at the table, Jesus tells the parable of taking the lower place at the wedding feast and waiting to be invited higher. Today’s Gospel is a direct teaching related to that parable. Jesus instructs to not only invite those who will boost your social standing, but to invite those who cannot pay you back.

On one hand, Jesus is challenging us to reach out to the poor, to people who cannot repay our charity. On the other hand, Jesus is challenging us to identify as the poor, in the grand scheme of salvation.
Each of us come to the table of the Lord, poor and hungry, unable to provide for ourselves. The Lord is the host who has invited all of us the physically and more importantly spiritually poor and lame and crippled.

Because the Lord feeds us in our poverty, we, in turn, are to reach out with our meager possessions, to those who have less than us, expecting no repayment, save that of eternal life.

How can we repay the goodness the Lord has shown to us? Paying the debt of our sins through his suffering and death when we were incapable of paying it ourselves? The entire Christian life is a response to the Lord loving us when we were unlovable, feeding us in our spiritual starvation, teaching us to walk rightly again in our spiritual lameness, clothing us when we were in the abject poverty of sin and separation from God.

We must seek to love as we have been loved, looking for opportunities to give without expecting repayment. Mother Theresa said, Jesus often hides behind the unattractive disguise of the irritable, the exacting, and the unreasonable. She prayed to recognize Jesus in these people, and to find the sweetness of serving Him in them; and so must we, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That bishops, priests, and all ministers of the Gospel may seek to imitate Jesus in his charity, compassion, self-sacrifice, and witness to the Truth.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for religious freedom and the dignity of human life. 

For victims of violence, especially the victims of the Church shooting in Texas yesterday, for their consolation, and that all forms of violence may be replaced by the Peace of Christ.

For the impoverished and sick and those experiencing any sort of trial: that Jesus the Bread of Life will be their sustenance, and that Christians will be instruments of God’s mercy for all those in need. 

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.