August 3, 2008, 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Isaiah 55:1-3 Romans 8:35, 37-39 Matthew 14:13-21
To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]
First reading from Isaiah ( 55:1-3)
Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (14:13-21)
Glory to you, Lord.
When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, He withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by Himself. The crowds heard of this and followed Him on foot from their towns. When He disembarked and saw the vast crowd, His heart was moved with compassion for them, and He cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached Him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” “What!” they exclaimed. “We have only five loaves and two fishes.” Then Jesus said to them “Bring them here to me.” Then He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, broke them and gave them to His disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over— twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
A liturgical cadence & a babble of numbers
On this 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle A), we pass from the seaside parables of Jesus to his multiplication of the loaves and fishes.[3] Because that event was frequently recounted in the Eucharistic liturgy of the early church, it came to be recorded in all four gospels. (Mt 14:13-21; Mk 6: 30-44; Lk: 9:10-17; Jn 6: 1-14) No other miracle of Jesus is recorded in all four gospels. One can detect a liturgical cadence in the account of the loaves and fishes; the words of the gospel sound so much like the words of the priest at the consecration of the Mass: “He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said….”
By the time the story of the loaves and fishes came to be written down in the second half of the first century, it had acquired also a babble of numbers. In one version of the event there are 7 loaves and 2 fishes, and 4,000 people are fed, and there are 7 baskets of leftovers.[4] In Mark, Luke and John there are 5 loaves and 2 fishes, and 5,000 people are fed, and there are 12 baskets of leftovers.
Are these versions of two different events? Most scholars say the versions, though they differ in minutiae, refer to one and the same event. As the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes was told and retold, especially in the Eucharistic life of the early Christian community, it lost mathematical accuracy. (The same happens as well when we tell and retell ours stories.) It is not mathematics but message that counts.
The message is about compassion
The message of the loaves and fishes is more about humans showing compassion than about God working a miracle. Matthew says, “Jesus looked with compassion upon the crowds before Him and healed their sick.” (Mt 14:14) And at the end of the day, his compassion also fed all of them who were hungry. Look at what compassion does! It heals the sick and feeds the hungry. Look at what compassion can do! By hook or by crook, it can find a way to feed a sea of hungry people with only five loaves and two fishes at hand.
Look at what compassion can do! As Presidential Election 2008 draws near, we remind ourselves that compassion, by hook or by crook, can find a way to insure 45-50 million uninsured hardworking citizens who can’t afford to buy health insurance. And compassion can find a way to make prescription drugs affordable so that the sick don’t have to choose between turning up the heat in the winter and buying nourishing food or paying for the medicine they need. Compassion can work miracles.
Not afraid of compassion
In the world of politics compassion conjures up all the horrors of the welfare system, which unfortunately often does for others what they should be challenged to do for themselves. With good reason, politicians are deathly afraid to use the word. But once they succeed in giving compassion a bad name, they also succeed in exempting themselves from voting compassionately.
Jesus wasn’t afraid to use the word. When the Pharisees criticize him for eating with sinners, he cries out, “Oh, if you only knew meaning of the scripture that says, `It is compassion I want from you people, and not your animal sacrifices.'" The quote is from the prophet Hosea. (Mt 9:13, Hosea 6:6) When the religious leaders criticize him and his hungry disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath, again he quotes Hosea, “It is compassion I want from you people, and not your animal sacrifices." (Mt 12:7, Hosea 6:6)
Neither was Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York State, afraid to use the C word. In his memorable address to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, July 16, 1984 he courageously used the word. “President Reagan,” he said, “told us from the very beginning that he believed in a kind of social Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. `Government can't do everything.’" In that city named after St. Francis of Assisi, Cuomo said, “We would rather have laws written by the patron of this great city, the man called the `world's most sincere Democrat,’ St. Francis of Assisi, than laws written by Darwin.” Then he unabashedly said, “We want government which is not ashamed but is courageous enough to use the words love and compassion.”
The message is about sharing
For many of us the message of the loaves and fishes is more about human beings acting compassionately than about God operating miraculously. It is more about human compassion dividing bread (sharing it) than it is about divine power multiplying it.
Instead of sending the hungry crowds off into the nearby villages to buy food for themselves, Jesus commands his followers saying, “You yourselves give them something to eat!” (Mt 14:16) They produce insignificant amount of food -- five loaves and two fishes. Scripture man, Roger Vermalen Karban writes, “Jesus doesn’t multiply anything. He simply takes the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he says the blessing, and gives them to the disciples who finally do what He initially told them to do [that they themselves should give the people something to eat].” A number of preachers see the loaves and fishes account as a successful attempt by Jesus to get people to share. Jesus passed out the five loaves and two fishes, and then everybody took his example and shared with others the rations they were selfishly hiding.
That so-called “watered-down” version (that it’s more about compassionately dividing bread than about miraculously multiplying it) turns some people off. One gentleman stoutly rejects it. He writes, “One Sunday I visited a parish in another city and learned something new. The multiplication of loaves did not really happen! The greedy people following Jesus in the wilderness had loaves and fishes stuffed under their robes. The disciples didn’t know about this surplus of hidden food, but this parish priest did! Pure non-sense!” he cries.
Sharing at Casa Maria
For personal reasons the “watered-down” version (that it’s more about compassionately dividing bread than about miraculously multiplying it) turns me on.
On State Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between Ninth and Tenth, stands the historic church of St. Benedict the Moor. It is the first Catholic church in Milwaukee dedicated to ministry in the Afro-American community. As you went west on State Street and looked to your right, you saw the strangest greeting written in bold letters on the doors of the church hall: Loaves and Fishes. Welcome!
A wonderful story lies behind that welcome. It begins with two people, Mike and Nettie Cullen, who had five loaves and two fishes which they wanted to share with hungry people in Milwaukee. So they opened the doors of their little house which they named Casa Maria. Soon there were five, then ten, then twenty people dropping in for supper. Soon also there were other good people with loaves and fishes, who also wanted to share. With time the little operation grew too big for the Cullen’s little house. Their free meal for the hungry had to go in search of a more spacious banquet hall. It finally came to rest at St. Benedict the Moor Church in central city on Friday 13, November 1970.
To this very day Operation Loaves and Fishes lives on at St. Ben’s. Daily (not just on Thanksgiving) countless hungry people drop in for supper prepared by countless good people from the suburbs who take turns preparing the meal, bringing it down to central city, and there personally serving it. It is suburbanites obeying the command of Jesus, “You yourselves give them something to eat.”
For many years I lived in the midst of that wonderful Operation of Loaves and Fishes, and that’s why the so-called “watered-down” version (that it’s more about compassionately dividing bread than about miraculously multiplying it) turns me on.
A tapestry of loaves and fishes
At St. Ben’s we periodically celebrated Operation Loaves and Fishes with a Eucharistic liturgy. On those occasions we would borrow an artistic piece of tapestry from the art museum of Alverno College. It is the work of the well-known Milwaukee artist, Sister Helena Steffensmeier, SSSF, now deceased. We borrowed her piece so often the museum finally gave it to St. Ben’s.
When Sr. Helena executed her tapestry she stitched in five small loaves and two small fishes way up on the top of her work. You can easily miss them because she has splashed the rest of the tapestry with three monotonous rows of four big baskets each filled to the brim and overflowing with leftovers.
Isaiah 55:1-3 Romans 8:35, 37-39 Matthew 14:13-21
To the churched and unchurched[1]
gathered in a temple not built by human hands[2]
First reading from Isaiah ( 55:1-3)
Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (14:13-21)
Glory to you, Lord.
When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, He withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by Himself. The crowds heard of this and followed Him on foot from their towns. When He disembarked and saw the vast crowd, His heart was moved with compassion for them, and He cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached Him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” “What!” they exclaimed. “We have only five loaves and two fishes.” Then Jesus said to them “Bring them here to me.” Then He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, broke them and gave them to His disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over— twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
A liturgical cadence & a babble of numbers
On this 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle A), we pass from the seaside parables of Jesus to his multiplication of the loaves and fishes.[3] Because that event was frequently recounted in the Eucharistic liturgy of the early church, it came to be recorded in all four gospels. (Mt 14:13-21; Mk 6: 30-44; Lk: 9:10-17; Jn 6: 1-14) No other miracle of Jesus is recorded in all four gospels. One can detect a liturgical cadence in the account of the loaves and fishes; the words of the gospel sound so much like the words of the priest at the consecration of the Mass: “He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said….”
By the time the story of the loaves and fishes came to be written down in the second half of the first century, it had acquired also a babble of numbers. In one version of the event there are 7 loaves and 2 fishes, and 4,000 people are fed, and there are 7 baskets of leftovers.[4] In Mark, Luke and John there are 5 loaves and 2 fishes, and 5,000 people are fed, and there are 12 baskets of leftovers.
Are these versions of two different events? Most scholars say the versions, though they differ in minutiae, refer to one and the same event. As the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes was told and retold, especially in the Eucharistic life of the early Christian community, it lost mathematical accuracy. (The same happens as well when we tell and retell ours stories.) It is not mathematics but message that counts.
The message is about compassion
The message of the loaves and fishes is more about humans showing compassion than about God working a miracle. Matthew says, “Jesus looked with compassion upon the crowds before Him and healed their sick.” (Mt 14:14) And at the end of the day, his compassion also fed all of them who were hungry. Look at what compassion does! It heals the sick and feeds the hungry. Look at what compassion can do! By hook or by crook, it can find a way to feed a sea of hungry people with only five loaves and two fishes at hand.
Look at what compassion can do! As Presidential Election 2008 draws near, we remind ourselves that compassion, by hook or by crook, can find a way to insure 45-50 million uninsured hardworking citizens who can’t afford to buy health insurance. And compassion can find a way to make prescription drugs affordable so that the sick don’t have to choose between turning up the heat in the winter and buying nourishing food or paying for the medicine they need. Compassion can work miracles.
Not afraid of compassion
In the world of politics compassion conjures up all the horrors of the welfare system, which unfortunately often does for others what they should be challenged to do for themselves. With good reason, politicians are deathly afraid to use the word. But once they succeed in giving compassion a bad name, they also succeed in exempting themselves from voting compassionately.
Jesus wasn’t afraid to use the word. When the Pharisees criticize him for eating with sinners, he cries out, “Oh, if you only knew meaning of the scripture that says, `It is compassion I want from you people, and not your animal sacrifices.'" The quote is from the prophet Hosea. (Mt 9:13, Hosea 6:6) When the religious leaders criticize him and his hungry disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath, again he quotes Hosea, “It is compassion I want from you people, and not your animal sacrifices." (Mt 12:7, Hosea 6:6)
Neither was Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York State, afraid to use the C word. In his memorable address to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, July 16, 1984 he courageously used the word. “President Reagan,” he said, “told us from the very beginning that he believed in a kind of social Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. `Government can't do everything.’" In that city named after St. Francis of Assisi, Cuomo said, “We would rather have laws written by the patron of this great city, the man called the `world's most sincere Democrat,’ St. Francis of Assisi, than laws written by Darwin.” Then he unabashedly said, “We want government which is not ashamed but is courageous enough to use the words love and compassion.”
The message is about sharing
For many of us the message of the loaves and fishes is more about human beings acting compassionately than about God operating miraculously. It is more about human compassion dividing bread (sharing it) than it is about divine power multiplying it.
Instead of sending the hungry crowds off into the nearby villages to buy food for themselves, Jesus commands his followers saying, “You yourselves give them something to eat!” (Mt 14:16) They produce insignificant amount of food -- five loaves and two fishes. Scripture man, Roger Vermalen Karban writes, “Jesus doesn’t multiply anything. He simply takes the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he says the blessing, and gives them to the disciples who finally do what He initially told them to do [that they themselves should give the people something to eat].” A number of preachers see the loaves and fishes account as a successful attempt by Jesus to get people to share. Jesus passed out the five loaves and two fishes, and then everybody took his example and shared with others the rations they were selfishly hiding.
That so-called “watered-down” version (that it’s more about compassionately dividing bread than about miraculously multiplying it) turns some people off. One gentleman stoutly rejects it. He writes, “One Sunday I visited a parish in another city and learned something new. The multiplication of loaves did not really happen! The greedy people following Jesus in the wilderness had loaves and fishes stuffed under their robes. The disciples didn’t know about this surplus of hidden food, but this parish priest did! Pure non-sense!” he cries.
Sharing at Casa Maria
For personal reasons the “watered-down” version (that it’s more about compassionately dividing bread than about miraculously multiplying it) turns me on.
On State Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between Ninth and Tenth, stands the historic church of St. Benedict the Moor. It is the first Catholic church in Milwaukee dedicated to ministry in the Afro-American community. As you went west on State Street and looked to your right, you saw the strangest greeting written in bold letters on the doors of the church hall: Loaves and Fishes. Welcome!
A wonderful story lies behind that welcome. It begins with two people, Mike and Nettie Cullen, who had five loaves and two fishes which they wanted to share with hungry people in Milwaukee. So they opened the doors of their little house which they named Casa Maria. Soon there were five, then ten, then twenty people dropping in for supper. Soon also there were other good people with loaves and fishes, who also wanted to share. With time the little operation grew too big for the Cullen’s little house. Their free meal for the hungry had to go in search of a more spacious banquet hall. It finally came to rest at St. Benedict the Moor Church in central city on Friday 13, November 1970.
To this very day Operation Loaves and Fishes lives on at St. Ben’s. Daily (not just on Thanksgiving) countless hungry people drop in for supper prepared by countless good people from the suburbs who take turns preparing the meal, bringing it down to central city, and there personally serving it. It is suburbanites obeying the command of Jesus, “You yourselves give them something to eat.”
For many years I lived in the midst of that wonderful Operation of Loaves and Fishes, and that’s why the so-called “watered-down” version (that it’s more about compassionately dividing bread than about miraculously multiplying it) turns me on.
A tapestry of loaves and fishes
At St. Ben’s we periodically celebrated Operation Loaves and Fishes with a Eucharistic liturgy. On those occasions we would borrow an artistic piece of tapestry from the art museum of Alverno College. It is the work of the well-known Milwaukee artist, Sister Helena Steffensmeier, SSSF, now deceased. We borrowed her piece so often the museum finally gave it to St. Ben’s.
When Sr. Helena executed her tapestry she stitched in five small loaves and two small fishes way up on the top of her work. You can easily miss them because she has splashed the rest of the tapestry with three monotonous rows of four big baskets each filled to the brim and overflowing with leftovers.
Conclusion
Twelve baskets of leftovers
Her tapestry glows with artistry and is packed with meaning. Its twelve large baskets overflowing with leftovers cries out “Abundance!” There is an abundance of bread in our lives. Share it! There is an abundance of blessings in our lives. Count them! Count them even as we pay four bucks a gallon for gas these days.
Her tapestry cries out, “Look at what compassion can do with only five loaves and two fishes. In a compassionate world which is willing to share, there is enough to satisfy everyone and even have twelve baskets of leftovers.”
[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!
[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24
[3] The King James Version and the New English Bible here use “fishes” as the plural of fish. Fish is the plural for a number of fish of the same species (e.g., 10 perch), but fishes is the plural for a number of different species (e.g., perch, walleye and catfish).
[4] These numbers can be found in the New American Bible translation of Matthew, 15:34-38.
Twelve baskets of leftovers
Her tapestry glows with artistry and is packed with meaning. Its twelve large baskets overflowing with leftovers cries out “Abundance!” There is an abundance of bread in our lives. Share it! There is an abundance of blessings in our lives. Count them! Count them even as we pay four bucks a gallon for gas these days.
Her tapestry cries out, “Look at what compassion can do with only five loaves and two fishes. In a compassionate world which is willing to share, there is enough to satisfy everyone and even have twelve baskets of leftovers.”
[1]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!
[2] Acts of the Apostles 17:24
[3] The King James Version and the New English Bible here use “fishes” as the plural of fish. Fish is the plural for a number of fish of the same species (e.g., 10 perch), but fishes is the plural for a number of different species (e.g., perch, walleye and catfish).
[4] These numbers can be found in the New American Bible translation of Matthew, 15:34-38.
