Pastor's Letter-- July 25, 2021

Greetings of peace and goodwill to you and your household!

John’s gospel is unique in its description of the miracles of Jesus
as “signs.” Signs are not ends in themselves, but point to
something beyond them. In the Church’s sacramental theology,
sacraments are described as efficacious signs that communicate
grace. Though signs, sacraments effect what they signify. For
example, water used in baptism, not only signifies cleansing, but
actually washes away sins. Not only does it signify death, burial
and resurrection to new life, baptism actually is death to the old
self and the birth of a new identity in Christ. When the words of
Christ are pronounced over ordinary bread and wine, they not only
signify the true Body and Blood of Christ, but also are indeed the
Real Presence of the Lord – his body, blood, soul and divinity. The
church is a sacrament in that she not only signifies Christ’s
presence in the world; she actually makes Christ present through
her sacramental ministry and the proclamation of the gospel.

In the chapter preceding that from which our gospel for this
weekend was taken, Jesus had just performed the sign of curing
the sick man who laid by the pool Bethesda for thirty-eight years.
According to him, he had no one to put him in the pool when the
water was stirred up. However, Jesus did not need the water of the
pool to heal this man because he was the true life-giving spring of
whom the pool was only a sign. This occurred on a Sabbath. As
such, Jesus drew the ire of the Jews who thought he had done
something forbidden on a Sabbath. Then followed the argument
about his identity as the Son of God and how his works testify to
this identity. In this weekend’s gospel, Jesus, like Elisha in our
First reading, performs the miracle of the multiplication of loaves.
Again, this was a sign. The Lord provided for the people in the
manner of Moses, whom God had used as an instrument to feed
his chosen people in the wilderness, and they acclaimed that he
was truly ‘the Prophet’ (Deuteronomy 18:15). The Lord provides
food, which is a necessity for the sustenance of the lives of the
people. Just like he set himself to teach the people who had
followed him, and who looked like sheep without a shepherd (in
last weekend’s gospel from Mark), Jesus shows compassion to
those who came to him. And just like he did not need the water
from the pool of Bethesda to cure the sick man, he performed the
miracle even with the little supplies he received from the
generous, but unnamed little boy. I still wonder if the Lord would
have performed the miracle had the boy refused offering his
lunch. God can do all things, but sometimes God wants us to
participate in bringing about his miracles. Are we willing to give
what we have even if our lives depended on it?

There are lessons to be learned. The Lord was moved with
compassion. It was not his responsibility to provide lunch for all
these people. After all, he never sent them an invitation to a party.
Like the disciples suggested in the synoptic gospels, he could
have sent them to go procure their own food. But no, he, the Good
Shepherd, tells them to feed them. Do we limit ourselves to only
what we think is our responsibility even when we have the
capability or capacity to do more? Are we minimalists, doing only
what is the required minimum and no more? When it comes to
church attendance, do we consider a one-hour weekend-only
liturgy all the time we can honestly give to God out of our one
hundred and sixty eight (168) hours a week? Do we watch things
go from bad to worse without doing anything to help simply
because it is not our responsibility? The Lord says, “you give them
something to eat” (Matthew 14:16).

Notice that it was Jesus who asked, “Where can we buy enough
food for them to eat?” How did he know they needed something
to eat? He must have been very attentive to know the people’s
need was food. Although he had the food for their souls, which
was his word, he knew they needed bodily nourishment as well.
The Good Shepherd is sensitive to our needs. He knows his
sheep’s need for food, nurture and affection. He does not ignore or
delegate this duty; rather he sets himself to attend to it. Are we
sensitive to the need of others or do we think only of our own
needs? Are we able to go beyond ourselves to meeting the needs
of others? Are we hospitable even to those we do not know or
limit our hospitality to friends and family only?

Like Elisha in our First reading, the Lord Jesus knew what he
would do. He knew he would provide food for the crowd. But he
first asks his disciples. Perhaps to teach his disciples to pay
attention to the people’s needs. He was teaching them how to
enter into his ministry by going beyond themselves to be
compassionate to others. The multiplication of the five barley
loaves and two fish was a foreshadowing of what he would do at
the last supper, when he would give us his flesh as food and his
blood as drink. He would give us the food that would satisfy our
hunger and the drink that would quench our thirst. Notice the
pattern: He receives the gift, blesses it, breaks it, and then shares
it. Does that not sound like what we do at Mass? The priest
receives the gifts presented by the people, fruit of the earth and
work of human hands, says the blessing over them, breaks them
and offers them to the people. This is the mystery we celebrate
every time we gather for the Eucharist. Out of his magnanimous
hospitality, the Lord who calls us together as the ekklesia (the
Church), offers us himself as food for our souls. Indeed, as we sing
in our Responsorial Psalm, “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he
answers all our needs.”

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!
With blessing from my heart,