Noticias de la Diócesis de Allentown

Gospel Reflection: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

2 Kgs 4:42-44

A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God,
twenty barley loaves made from the firstfruits,
and fresh grain in the ear.
Elisha said, "Give it to the people to eat."
But his servant objected,
"How can I set this before a hundred people?"
Elisha insisted, "Give it to the people to eat."
"For thus says the LORD,
'They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'"
And when they had eaten, there was some left over,
as the LORD had said.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18

R. (cf. 16) The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

Gospel

Jn 6:1-15

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.
A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there he sat down with his disciples.
The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes
and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip,
"Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?"
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
"Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little."
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?"
Jesus said, "Have the people recline."
Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.
So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
"Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted."
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves
that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
"This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

Reflection

A repeated characterization of God in scripture is as a provider who feeds His people. We see this image multiple times today in our readings. In 2 Kings, God shows his generosity and power by feeding a hundred people from twenty barely loaves. Our Psalm identifies the Lord as the hand who feeds us. And in the Gospel, Jesus demonstrates his divinity and love by feeding 5,000 people from five loaves and two fish—a beautiful reflection and fulfillment of the Old Testament scene we just read.

We humans spend a lot of our time hungry. In the best cases, our stomachs grumble multiple times a day. In the worst, we live in constant longing for nourishment. Hunger signals to us that we are a dependent people, made by a Heavenly Feeder to be fed.

And the first and most famous sin—original sin—was when a man and a woman ate what was not fed to them.

The Gospel today calls us to rely upon Jesus Christ to nourish us. What seems like a meager portion—for the apostles it was five loaves and two fish, for us it is a small, round Host—will produce a bounty beyond all imagining if we receive it gratefully from God, rather than grasp in desperation for what we think we need.

Humans fell into sin through cursed eating in the Garden of Eden, and God in His perfect wisdom saves us through sacred eating at the Altar. He not only feeds us several times through salvation history with miraculous meals, but he feeds us with Himself at every Mass. God gives us the Bread of Life in the Eucharist, a meal which unites us with the Heavenly Kingdom, where, finally, nobody’s stomach grumbles. We can pray with today’s Gospel for the grace to trust that Jesus gives us everything that we need and more, because He gives us Himself.

Please be assured of my prayers for you before Our Lord, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

+ Bishop Schlert



Cuotas:
Print


Secciones
Home
Buscar