Friends,
our Gospel today tells about the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus
instructs the crowd to recline, and they do so on the grass. Taking the
loaves and dried fish, Jesus makes a meal that satisfies the enormous
crowd. They are hungry, tired, worn out from their exertions, and Jesus
gives them sustenance for the day.
For
Thomas Aquinas, the great metaphor for the Eucharist is sustenance,
food for the journey. The Eucharist is daily food, sustenance for the
journey, nourishment to get us through the day to day. How effective
would we be if we never ate, or ate only on special occasions and in a
festive environment? Not very. So, in the spiritual life, we must eat
and drink or we will not have strength.
Is
this
just meant in some vague symbolic way? No, rather in a vividly
analogical way. For just as the body needs physical nourishment, the
spirit needs spiritual nourishment, and there is no getting around this
law.
“Well, it’s no big deal if I stay away from Mass and refrain from receiving Communion.” Think again!
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Lectionary: 169
In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine,
and being a priest of God Most High,
he blessed Abram with these words:
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
the creator of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who delivered your foes into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Brothers and sisters:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread, and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,
and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close,
the Twelve approached him and said,
"Dismiss the crowd
so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms
and find lodging and provisions;
for we are in a deserted place here."
He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves."
They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have,
unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people."
Now the men there numbered about five thousand.
Then he said to his disciples,
"Have them sit down in groups of about fifty."
They did so and made them all sit down.
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And when the leftover fragments were picked up,
they filled twelve wicker baskets.
No comments:
Post a Comment