Homilies | Father Nathan

Father Nathan | Homily

Today’s Readings for Mass During the Day:

First Reading — IS 55:1-3

Responsorial Psalm —PS 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18

The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

Second Reading — ROM 8:35, 37-39

Gospel Reading —MT 14:13-21

The miracle of Fishes and Loaves

Mother Theresa told how she once came across a Hindu family that had not eaten for days. She took a small quantity of rice and gave it to the family. What happened next surprised her.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the mother of the family divided the rice into two. Then she took one half of it to the family next door which happened to be a Muslim family.

Seeing this Mother Theresa said to her, how much will you have leftover? Isn’t there enough of yourself?

But they haven’t eaten for days either, the women replied.

Generosity such as that makes us humble.

The Miracle of Generosity

The miracle of the loaves and fishes could be called a miracle of generosity.  First of all, there is the marvelous generosity of the boy, who, with his gift of five loves and two fish, made the miracle possible. It was a small thing in itself, but for the little boy it was the greatest sacrifice, just because it was ALL HE HAD, HE SACRIFICED FOR OTHERS. It’s easy to give something that we won’t really miss. But when the gift is as desperately needed by the giver as the receiver that is true giving. That is what we call it as the sacrifice.

Then there was the marvelous generosity of JESUS. To appreciate this, we need to consider the circumstances of the miracle. It’s easy to reach out to others when it doesn’t cause us much inconvenience.

Not so easy when it is sprung on us at an awkward moment. Here a real sacrifice is involved. We have to set aside our plans and forget about ourselves.

So it was with Jesus. He had just learned that his cousin, John, had been murdered. He needed peace and quietness to mourn and grieves for his cousin.  That is why he and the apostles crossed to the far side of the lake. But when he stepped out of the boat he found a throng of people waiting for him. He might have got angry and sent them away.  Instead, he had compassion on them and gave himself completely to them.

Then there was a sheer generosity of his response to the hunger of the people. Not only did he feed them, but he saw to it that each of them had as much as they wanted, even so, there were twelve full baskets left over.

The Miracle of the Eucharist

You can see then why this could be called a miracle of generosity. Generosity is not always about giving things. More often it is about giving oneself totally to others, our time, and our gifts. Giving things can be easy, but giving of oneself is never easy at all.  Before giving himself as food and drink in the Eucharist, Jesus gave of himself to people in so many other ways.

The story of the feeding of the multitude was treasured by the early Christians. The miracle recalled the Old Testament story of manna in the desert. For them, Jesus was the new Moses who feeds his people in the desert. Then they saw in this feeding the anticipation of the Eucharist. It was at the table of the Eucharist that Jesus nourished them.

And it is here that Jesus nourishes us now. Only at God’s table can we get the nourishment our hearts are longing for. In the Eucharist, we are nourished with the Word of God and the Bread of life. And having invited us to partake of the banquet of life on earth, God has invited us to partake of the banquet of eternal life in heaven.

As the people went back to their homes at the end of that day they knew that they had experienced the goodness and the love of God – that love Paul talks about, a love from God which nothing can separate us.

In the Eucharist, we taste the love of God. The proof that we have experienced that love will be our willingness to love others.

We may be able to give only small ways and small amounts. However, from the little boy in the gospel, we see that a small amount can become a big amount when placed in the hands of our lord.

Amen.

Have a Blessed Week,

Fr. Nathan