Multiplication of Love
August 6, 2023, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Helen Weber-McReynolds, RWCP
Isaiah 55:1-3, Sirach 24:12-17,19-21; 2 Corinthians 9:10-15; Matthew 14:13-21
I can never read this Gospel about the multiplication of the loaves and fishes without thinking of a story our friend Joe Zelenka used to tell. I know I have told it before, so I ask your indulgence here. Joe had set up the parish twinning relationship between St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Vianney parish in Belle Riviere, Haiti. It was on one of his many trips to Haiti that he was in a neighborhood suffering great poverty. A group of young children gathered around him asking for food. All he had was a packet of peanut butter crackers given to him by the airline on his flight earlier that day. He hesitated to give it to the kids, fearing they would fight over it. But no. What happened was that the oldest child proceeded to break the crackers up and hand them out so that every kid got a little bite. Everyone was fed. They all shared equally.
We don’t know exactly what happened when Jesus distributed two loaves and five fish and managed to feed more than 5000 people. We do know from the reading that he blessed, broke, and gave the food to his disciples in the traditional manner of a Jewish head of household at a Sabbath meal. We can see in this scene a preview of his blessing, breaking, and giving of his very self at the Last Supper. The loaf and cup he blessed there has fed millions of people over more than 2000 years. Besides bread and wine, what he gave that evening was a way for us to always have his presence with us, whenever we gather to celebrate God’s love, and God’s sustaining Word.
Our first reading from the prophet Isaiah continued the Wisdom theme introduced in last Sunday’s readings. It presented God’s feminine Spirit of Wisdom as rich, sustaining food, like milk and wine, but given to all for free, a rich banquet available for the taking, available to everyone. It said that listening to the wise Word of God will be like fortifying bread for us, helping us to know how to live forever, in God’s “steadfast, sure, and enduring love.” And we know that God’s Wisdom is visible everywhere if we look with eyes of faith. We see it in nature, in the stars and animals and plants, in the Bible and other sacred literature, and in one another, when we act with love.
Our second reading connected these ideas. It told how Paul commended the young Christian community at Corinth for sending financial assistance to the community in Jerusalem, who were experiencing hard times. This is an example of how we carry out God’s wisdom, how we thank God for the love God lavishes on us. We pass it on to those who need help. The Corinthian Christians showed their gratitude for God’s blessings by passing them on to their Jerusalem friends in Christ, feeding them as they had been fed. They had heard God’s message and put it into action, thanking God by showing love to those in need.
This is the Wisdom God offers us, the central teaching of Jesus, and, in reality, the main idea of all human spiritual teaching: we love and thank God, the source of all our being, by loving those around us. We love all the people, all the plants, all the animals, all the air, water, rocks, fungi, and grains of sand. We return love onto love.
August 6, 2023, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Helen Weber-McReynolds, RWCP
Isaiah 55:1-3, Sirach 24:12-17,19-21; 2 Corinthians 9:10-15; Matthew 14:13-21
I can never read this Gospel about the multiplication of the loaves and fishes without thinking of a story our friend Joe Zelenka used to tell. I know I have told it before, so I ask your indulgence here. Joe had set up the parish twinning relationship between St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Vianney parish in Belle Riviere, Haiti. It was on one of his many trips to Haiti that he was in a neighborhood suffering great poverty. A group of young children gathered around him asking for food. All he had was a packet of peanut butter crackers given to him by the airline on his flight earlier that day. He hesitated to give it to the kids, fearing they would fight over it. But no. What happened was that the oldest child proceeded to break the crackers up and hand them out so that every kid got a little bite. Everyone was fed. They all shared equally.
We don’t know exactly what happened when Jesus distributed two loaves and five fish and managed to feed more than 5000 people. We do know from the reading that he blessed, broke, and gave the food to his disciples in the traditional manner of a Jewish head of household at a Sabbath meal. We can see in this scene a preview of his blessing, breaking, and giving of his very self at the Last Supper. The loaf and cup he blessed there has fed millions of people over more than 2000 years. Besides bread and wine, what he gave that evening was a way for us to always have his presence with us, whenever we gather to celebrate God’s love, and God’s sustaining Word.
Our first reading from the prophet Isaiah continued the Wisdom theme introduced in last Sunday’s readings. It presented God’s feminine Spirit of Wisdom as rich, sustaining food, like milk and wine, but given to all for free, a rich banquet available for the taking, available to everyone. It said that listening to the wise Word of God will be like fortifying bread for us, helping us to know how to live forever, in God’s “steadfast, sure, and enduring love.” And we know that God’s Wisdom is visible everywhere if we look with eyes of faith. We see it in nature, in the stars and animals and plants, in the Bible and other sacred literature, and in one another, when we act with love.
Our second reading connected these ideas. It told how Paul commended the young Christian community at Corinth for sending financial assistance to the community in Jerusalem, who were experiencing hard times. This is an example of how we carry out God’s wisdom, how we thank God for the love God lavishes on us. We pass it on to those who need help. The Corinthian Christians showed their gratitude for God’s blessings by passing them on to their Jerusalem friends in Christ, feeding them as they had been fed. They had heard God’s message and put it into action, thanking God by showing love to those in need.
This is the Wisdom God offers us, the central teaching of Jesus, and, in reality, the main idea of all human spiritual teaching: we love and thank God, the source of all our being, by loving those around us. We love all the people, all the plants, all the animals, all the air, water, rocks, fungi, and grains of sand. We return love onto love.
RSS Feed
