20200802 STRETCHING OUR LIMITS
02 August, 2020, Sunday, 18th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading
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Isaiah 55:1-3 ©
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Come and eat
Thus says the Lord:
Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty;
though you have no money, come!
Buy corn without money, and eat,
and, at no cost, wine and milk.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
your wages on what fails to satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and you will have good things to eat
and rich food to enjoy.
Pay attention, come to me;
listen, and your soul will live.
With you I will make an everlasting covenant
out of the favours promised to David.
Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 144(145):8-9,15-18 ©
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You open wide your hand, O Lord; you grant our desires.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.
You open wide your hand, O Lord; you grant our desires.
The eyes of all creatures look to you
and you give them their food in due time.
You open wide your hand,
grant the desires of all who live.
You open wide your hand, O Lord; you grant our desires.
The Lord is just in all his ways
and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their hearts.
You open wide your hand, O Lord; you grant our desires.
Second reading
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Romans 8:35,37-39 ©
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No created thing can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ
Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.
For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Lk19:38,2:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessings on the King who comes,
in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest heavens!
Alleluia!
Or:
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Mt4:4
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Alleluia!
Gospel
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Matthew 14:13-21 ©
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The feeding of the five thousand
When Jesus received the news of John the Baptist’s death he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.
When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they answered ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.’ ‘Bring them here to me’ he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining; twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.
STRETCHING OUR LIMITS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [IS 55:1-3; ROM 8:35, 37-39; MT 14:13-21 ]
The world is always hungry, not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually. The Lord is inviting us to come and listen to Him so that we can find the fullness of life, healing of body and soul, love and fellowship in His Kingdom. “Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy corn without money, and eat, and, at no cost, wine and milk. Why spend money on what is not bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen, listen to me and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy. Pay attention, come to me; listen, and your soul will live.”
In the gospel, the people were following Jesus even to the desert because they sought physical healing from Him for their sicknesses and food for their souls. Leaving the towns, they “went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.” By evening, they were also physically hungry and they had no food with them. The disciples said to the Lord, “This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.” In other words, they had reached their limits.
However, the response of our Lord to the disciples was clear, “There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.” Indeed, the Lord wants us to provide food for those physically hungry, those emotionally abandoned, those who are sick and those who are spiritually seeking for God, meaning, purpose and for inner peace in their lives. He does not want us to shirk our responsibilities because this is what is required of us. However, in the face of challenges and problems we are often tempted to pass the buck to someone else to handle because we do not want to get involved. We are not ready to sacrifice our resources, our energy and our precious time for others.
Sometimes, this is because we are simply too overwhelmed by the demands made on us. We look at the situation and we feel totally helpless and inadequate. This was how the disciples felt when they told the Lord, “All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.” How could that meagre bread and fish feed 5000 thousand men and if we include the women and children, it could be as many as 10000 people? So the solution of the disciples was the most practical, which was to send them away. However, it must also be noted that the small towns and villages would not have been able to supply food for even 5000 people in the late evening as all the bread would have been sold out for the day. It was an impossible task.
The truth is that we cannot deal with an impossible challenge using a natural solution. They were thinking of how to solve the problem using their natural resources. They forgot that God never asks us to do anything without providing us with the resources. The problem is that our expectations of what God can do for us are limited by our lack of faith in Him. Like the apostles who forgot that God had provided manna through Moses in the desert to feed the multitudes, Elijah who kept the poor widow and her son alive, and Elisha multiplied 20 barley loaves for 100 people, we too forget the power and divine providence of God. (Ex 16, 1 Kgs 17:8-24; 2 Kgs 4:42-44) When the apostles raised a practical objection to the Lord’s instruction to feed the multitude, they were just re-echoing what Elisha’s disciples said at the master’s command to feed the people. (2 Kgs 4:42f) However, God had given the power to Moses to divide the waters, provide manna from heaven; Elijah and Elisha to perform miracles of healing and providing food for the hungry. So too God will work in us as He worked through them. God will not save His people without us. God will not do it alone without man’s cooperation. He wants us to work with Him and let Him work through us.
Truly, God wants to stretch us to our limits so that we will know who He is, the God of might and compassion. His Father had already stretched Jesus to go beyond Himself when He was tired and feeling unsettled and disturbed because of the death of His cousin, John the Baptist. He also knew His own life was in danger because He was getting too popular, which would have aroused the authorities to take action. Hence, He withdrew from the crowd “by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves.” He needed time to reassess His ministry, to rest and be with His Father. However, upon arriving, “as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.” Our Lord went the extra mile, putting aside His desire for a much-needed rest and leaving His anxieties behind. Jesus ministered to the people who were sheep seeking solace and strength. Jesus as the Good Shepherd could not abandon His sheep even though He was very tired.
This, too, was the case of St Paul in today’s second reading and the exiled Israelites in the first reading. Paul was a great apostle and tireless missionary for our Lord, proclaiming the gospel in and out of season, welcome or unwelcome, going through persecutions and physical suffering and privation. He listed seven forms of trials and sufferings and seven forms of enemies at work against him. Seven is a symbolic number of perfection. Despite the suffering from within and without, Paul continued to proclaim the gospel indefatigably because he said, “nothing can come between us and the love of Christ.” So too, for the Israelites in exile who were about to give up hope as they experienced abandonment and hopelessness. God assured them that they must never give up hope because He would renew His covenant with them made with David. They must be stretched to their limits.
How can we be like St Paul and the apostles to be the emissaries of Jesus today? We only need to make ourselves available. To say that God can work miracles does not necessarily mean that He would entertain us with spectacular miracles so that all of us would be cowed into belief. Rather, God makes use of what we already have. He multiplies what we have been given already. Grace perfects nature. In the case of Moses, when he asked for a sign to take with him to the people, God told him to use the staff that was already in his hand to work wonders and even part the sea. (Ex 4:1-3, 16) So, too, Elisha told the widow to make use of the little oil she had and pour into the vessels that she borrowed from others. (2 Kgs 4:1-7) Indeed, God will use ordinary things of life and transform them for greater use.
With the five loaves and two fish, the Lord gave thanks, trusting in His Father’s providence. The sense of gratitude in us always inspires hope that God would also provide our other needs. Gratitude means trust and hope. Because Jesus trusted in His Father, He could multiply the loaves for the 5000 thousand. It is immaterial whether we believe the miracle happened literally or symbolically as an expression of the Sacrament of the Eucharist in feeding the People of God, or a real transformation of the hearts of the people by inviting them to share whatever food they brought along with them to the desert. What we can be certain is that if we allow God to use us and the resources He has blessed us with, we can feed hungry stomachs, fill empty hearts and strengthen the souls of people. In truth, we have food to feed everyone on this planet, but much food has been destroyed to keep prices high. The real sin is that more money is spent on armament than on food!
Today, what we need is to expand our hearts to be more compassionate, filled with faith and love for His people. Unless we have the heart of Jesus we would not be willing to make our resources available to help others. Unless we have faith in God’s power and love, we will feel daunted by our scarce resources. Instead, we must be like Jesus, see the great need of the world and God’s power to make these resources available. Our cooperation with His grace is all that is needed to work miracles in our lives. However ill-equipped we are, let us come to Him in faith and prayer. God will send us the assistance that we need beyond our imagination to accomplish our tasks. As the gospel says, when He gives, He gives abundantly, more than what we need. God is always generous with His love.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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