20260802 BE LIKE CHRIST, BREAD BROKEN FOR THE WORLD
02 August 2026, Sunday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | Isaiah 55:1-3 |
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 |
Psalm 144(145):8-9,15-18 |
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 |
Romans 8:35,37-39 |
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 | cf.Lk19:38,2:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessings on the King who comes,
in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest heavens!
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 14:13-21 |
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.
BE LIKE CHRIST, BREAD BROKEN FOR THE WORLD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISA 55:1-3; ROM 8:35, 37-39; MT 14:13-21]
We are all hungry, like the Israelites and the Jews in today’s Scripture readings. We crave to satisfy our material needs, but whatever we have never seems to be enough. We also worry about our physical health. Today, many of us not only look after our health but are obsessed with our bodies. We pursue all kinds of slimming products and solutions so that we will not only be healthy, but look forever young!
Even if we can satisfy our material needs, we might still not find happiness and peace. This dissatisfaction and restlessness in our hearts is a sign that Jesus is trying to get our attention. He wants us to look deeper into ourselves and ask why there is a feeling of emptiness in our lives. What is causing this vacuum in our hearts?
At the root of all this hunger is a spiritual problem: God is absent from our lives. We are a selfish and broken people. Many are under some kind of bondage–whether to anger, revenge, hatred, envy, or pride. Others suffer from addictions to pornography, lust, gambling, drinking, or stealing. As a result, we are unable to love. We have no peace of mind, living in deep anxiety and frustration. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.
The Good News is that in the First Reading, God reminds Israel of His covenantal love for them. God, who is faithful in love, will never abandon them. So in their exile and captivity, in their hunger and thirst, God offers them hope and an invitation to eat and drink of Him so that they will never be hungry or thirsty again.
In the Gospel, we see how Jesus, the compassionate shepherd, never leaves His flock hungry or untended. Even when He felt sad upon hearing that John the Baptist had been beheaded–and despite wanting to be alone with His disciples to grieve–He put the needs and sufferings of others before His own pain. He was moved not just by pity, but by an active compassion to teach and heal them. How many of us can do that? When we are feeling sad and down, we often think only of our own pain, oblivious to the suffering of others. But not Jesus; the suffering of others was more important than His own pain. He was able to make space for others in His heart.
In multiplying the loaves, Jesus defined who He truly was for humanity: a man truly for others. John the Baptist’s cruel death must have reminded Him that He, too, would have to walk the path of martyrdom to proclaim the Father’s love. This feeding of the five thousand anticipates His own passion. In the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus presented Himself dramatically as the One who comes to feed us with His body and blood. He is the love of God in person. He satisfies our thirst and hunger. Just as there were twelve baskets of leftovers, the abundance of God’s love is enough to satisfy everyone.
Jesus is the free gift of God in person. This is what the prophet meant when he said, “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.” Obviously, this passage prefigures the Eucharistic meal that the Lord provides for His people.
Indeed, the love of God is made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord, both in His preaching and His deeds, especially in the Eucharist. When we know that God loves us in a real and concrete way, St. Paul says: “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.”
Indeed, when we are loved, we can endure all suffering in life. Certainly, we do not look forward to suffering–that would be abnormal. But we do not mind suffering for His sake, or for someone we love, or someone who loves us. When we know that God is with us, we are able to join Jesus in carrying the cross unto death, for we know that with Jesus, we will triumph in the end. Just as the love of Jesus for His Father could not separate them even on the cross, so too can we be certain that when God loves us, we will triumph.
Yes, to find life, direction, and inspiration, we must listen to the voice of the Lord so that we can discern the movements of His Spirit in our lives. The reason many of us are confused in life and lose courage so easily is that we do not listen to His Word. When we listen to Jesus, we come to realise what our real hunger in life is. Unless we feed on Him, we cannot find life, for the words we consume transform our minds and spirits into His likeness.
Secondly, Jesus as the Bread of Life satisfies our need for relationship and communion. In receiving Communion, we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus. Only a personal experience of His love–through the enlightenment of the mind and the presence of His love in our hearts–can bring us true peace and joy. When we have love in our hearts, especially the love of God, we need very little else to be happy.
However, we do not receive the Eucharist simply for ourselves. The Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, but it is also the Christian community. Jesus gives us Himself not only through the Sacrament of the Eucharist, but by giving us a relationship with God and with one another. The Eucharist becomes a true experience of God when it is celebrated within a community, for each of us is called to bring Jesus to one another. Every one of us has been called by God to be “Eucharist” to each other. By praying and worshipping together, we strengthen one another. By reading and sharing the Word of God together, we enlighten one another. Indeed, in many ways, we are called to offer each other the Word. It is not enough to receive the Eucharist individually; in becoming more like Christ, we are called to give ourselves to others. The ultimate purpose of receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is so that we, too, may live out the truth and meaning of life in love.
This is the implication of Jesus’ command whenever we celebrate the Eucharist. When He tells us to “do this in memory of me,” He is not simply asking us to perform a ritual as often as possible. He is telling us that we must be like Him: ready to give up our bodies and our blood for others. In other words, we must become food for others. We are called to lay down our lives for our spouse, children, loved ones, the Church, and society. We must use all our resources–not just what is left over from our abundance–to help others. Like Jesus, we must become bread broken for others. Only then can we find the true meaning of life, which is love expressed through service.
This is where the difficulty and danger lie. Many of us tend to excuse ourselves, just like the disciples did when they said, “We have only five loaves and two fish.” Like them, we often find that our care and compassion are limited to prayers and good wishes. We wish people well but have no intention of taking practical action to help. The disciples’ solution was to send the crowd away. Yet Jesus told them, “Feed them yourselves!” In fact, He was saying, “Feed them with yourselves!”
We are responsible for bringing the Eucharist to others by extending His love and mercy. Some of us might feel that we have little to offer,but when we bring the little we have to Jesus, He multiplies it for us. All we need is the desire to give ourselves in service to others. Truly, all Jesus needs from us to feed the hungry crowds of the world is our “five loaves and two fish.”
What do we give to Him? First, give Him your time, especially in prayer. If you are willing to invest time in prayer–praying with your heart and soul–He will enlighten and empower you. He will refresh you with His love.
Second, give Him your service and talents. Allow the Lord to lead you to serve others, for in service you will discover the joy of loving and giving. Whatever you give to the Lord, He will transform far beyond your imagination. He did so with the loaves, and He will do so with whatever meagre efforts you offer Him. The truth is, we are not poor in things, money, or talents; we are poor in life. And that is why we are truly poor.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
