EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (A)
August 6, 2023

First Reading (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.

Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-18)

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

1) The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.
The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.

2) 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.

3) 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.

Second Reading (Romans 8: 35, 37-39)

Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel (Matthew 14: 13-21)

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 pity 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."
But they said to him, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have here."
Then he said, "Bring them here to me," and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the 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.

(Copyright 1970, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2001 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Copyright 1970, 1997, 1998 Contraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The English translation of some Psalm responses, some Alleluia and Gospel verses and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, some Summaries, and the Titles and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass copyright 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc., Washington D.C. All rights reserved.

The poetic English translation of the sequences of the Roman Missal are taken from the Roman Missal approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States, copyright 1964 by the National Catholic Welfare Conference, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission of ICEL.)

Homily

What Would Jesus Do?

In looking over the readings for today's liturgy, there is one theme which seems to permeate all of them: God's providential care for each and everyone of us. The first reading, psalm and gospel all speak of food, feeding and nourishment.

In the first reading, Isaiah relays the advice of Yahweh to the Israelites: "All you who are thirsty, come to the water". These words would remind them that Moses brought forth water from the rock to refresh them in the desert. Likewise, when he says "You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat", the Israelites would have remembered the manna in the desert. When Isaiah asks "Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?", the meaning of the passage goes to another level, from the physical to the spiritual. For example, Psalm 42 begins with the words: "As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. My being thirsts for God, the living God". Just as our bodies need physical nourishment, food and drink, so do our souls need to find God amidst the troubles and trials of life. This is the deeper meaning of this passage: it is the Word of God which will truly refresh us and bring us to the light at the end of the tunnel of our tribulations.

The psalmist also picks up on the spiritual nourishment when he prays "you give them their food in due season; ...you satisfy the desire of every living thing". I am reminded of the chorus of one of my favorite songs: "You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat. Come give to us, O saving Lord, the bread of life to eat". At each liturgy our souls are fed first of all with the Word of God and then we receive the Word of God, who is Christ, in the form of bread and wine in the Eucharist.

In the second reading, we heard those marvelous words from Paul: "Who can separate us from the love of Christ?" He goes on to answer his own question by stating that neither trial nor distress, "death nor life...nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord". In other words, God will always love us but the unknown factor in all of this is: will we always love God through thick and thin, good times and bad? I will come back to this shortly.

And in today's gospel passage, we heard Matthew's account of the feeding of the multitudes, which is mentioned in all four gospels. It is interesting to note that this passage begins with our Lord and the disciples receiving word of the death of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod. As a result of this news (and as is made clearer in the other accounts of this episode), our Lord and the disciples get into a boat to cross over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to have some time by themselves to "regroup", as it were, to allow themselves some time to adjust to this tragic news. But when they disembark, they discover that the crowds have walked around the north end of the lake and are there to meet and greet them when they come ashore. And instead of being upset that the crowds have done this, our Lord has compassion on them.

Isn't this so often the way it is in our lives? In dealing with the loss of a loved one, we need to give ourselves some time to grieve. There is no doubt that this is essential for our mental health. But the mistake we sometimes may make is letting the grief gain total control over our lives. Sometimes, those who grieve may withdraw from life and perhaps even lose the will to live. Consider the following story.

Today's readings tell us in no uncertain terms that if we reflect on the Word of God in the Scriptures, and especially on the Word of God who is Christ, then we will learn what we should say and do at any and all times in our own lives.

As we heard in last week's readings, we each have a treasure, the "one thing" (as Jack Palance told Billy Crystal in the movie City Slickers) which motivates our lives and gives it meaning. And we have two choices in this life: we can either place our treasure in the things of this world or we can place them in the things of the next world. And, as Christ has taught us, and as is abundantly clear throughout the Scriptures, the "one thing" which should motivate the lives of each and every Christian is the love of God, especially as that love is demonstrated in our love for one another. As we heard in last week's first reading, Solomon was given one wish by God and he didn't choose wealth or riches or long life for himself, but wisdom so that he could govern the people wisely. His focus was not turned inward but outward.

That is our choice also: we can choose to serve ourselves or we can choose to serve others. If we were to ask ourselves that question which was so popular a while back "What would Jesus do?", we would know the answer to that question beyond any shadow of a doubt. As we heard in today's gospel, we must be willing to let go of our own needs and be willing to serve the needs of others. And as Mrs. Wilson discovered, the best way to deal with any period of trial and grief is to turn our focus away from ourselves and towards others. We will then discover that by helping others, we are helping ourselves even more.

References

1. You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore. Reprinted with permission from A Fourth Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul, copyright 1997 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Hanoch McCarty and Meladee McCarty. Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach. FL.

(Please note: there are several stories in my archives which could easily be used instead of the one here. I have used them before, so I was hesitant to do so again. They are: Remembrance, Unto the Least of These and A Sandpiper To Bring You Joy.)

(Copyright 2017 by the Spirit through Deacon Sil Galvan, with a little help from the friends noted above. Permission is freely granted for oral use in whole or in part in local communities. For permission to use in written form, please contact the human intermediary at deaconsil@comcast.net )

Possible humorous illustration:

As the preacher got into the pulpit, he realized that he had forgotten his glasses. He was a bit flustered, but pressed on, assuming he could preach his sermon without needing to read his notes. He started out, "Jesus fed five people with 5,000 loaves and 2,000 fish."
Voice from back of the church: "Well, I could do that!"
Puzzled, but he continued. Later, someone told him what he had said.
Next Sunday, he decided to get even. "Jesus fed 5,000 people with just 5 loaves and two fish." He looked at the man in the back who had interrupted him the previous week: "Could you do that?"
"Sure, it'd be easy!"
"How could you possibly do that?"
"With all the food left over from last Sunday!"

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (A)

August 6, 2023

Penitential Rite

Lord Jesus, you transform the gifts we offer in order to be present among us. Lord, have mercy.

Christ Jesus, you feed us with the living bread of your Body. Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you offer us your Body to make of us one body, your church. Lord, have mercy.

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (A)

August 6, 2023

Prayers of the Faithful

Celebrant:In our gospel passage, Christ had compassion on his people in need. Therefore, confident that he will intercede for us in our need, we bring our prayers and petitions to the Father.

Deacon/Lector: Our response is "Lord, feed us with your Bread of Life".

That the leaders of the Church will feed the members of their communities with the Word of God, which is life, we pray to the Lord.

That the people of the nations of the world with do all in their power to bring peace on earth and end the war in Ukraine, we pray to the Lord.

That the sick, the terminally ill and those who are grieving the loss of a loved one will find strength in their reception of the Body of Christ, who suffered for them, we pray to the Lord.

That our frequent reception of the Eucharist will strengthen us to be agents of justice for all those in need, we pray to the Lord.

That all of our brothers and sisters will be treated as our equals in the site of God regardless of their race, color, nationality or religion, we pray to the Lord.

For all of the intentions we hold in our hearts and which we now recall in silence. (Pause) For all of these intentions, we pray to the Lord.

Celebrant: Heavenly Father, your Son used the five loaves and two fish to feed a multitude of people. Grant us the grace of your Spirit to place our gifts and talents at the service of your Son so that he may continue his healing work here on earth. And we ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.