18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Is 55:1-3
Ps 148:8-9, 15-16, 17-18
Rm 8:35, 37-39
Mt 14:13-21
Hello, I’m Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, with the “Sunday Soundbite” for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
My inner-city parish sponsors a soup kitchen, and the time I spend there is always a holy time. It’s holy because of the presence of Christ in both our guests who come for meals and in the volunteers and staff who serve them. The fact that this ministry revolves around food recalls for me the scene in today’s Gospel.
There, Jesus feeds a large crowd in a deserted place. When Matthew’s community heard this story, what connections would they have made? Perhaps they recalled the Hebrew Scriptures, where God fed the people of Israel in the desert. Perhaps those early Christians thought of their own situation, and of their obligation to feed those in need. And surely they imagined the heavenly banquet, at the end of time.
But I suspect this story also reminded them of their Sunday Eucharist. The language Matthew uses to describe what Jesus does—blessing, breaking and giving bread—recalls a similar description of the actions of Christ at the Last Supper.
For me, and for my parishioners—all those connections are present in our soup kitchen ministry: our link with our Scriptural tradition, our hope for the banquet feast of heaven, and especially the Eucharist. Our Sunday Mass nourishes us, prepares us, obliges us, even, to feed the hungry who wander in our urban desert, seeking nourishment and healing.
Scripture:
•Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! (Isaiah 55:1a)
•Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? (Isaiah 55:2a)
•Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! (Isaiah 55:1c)
•What will separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:35a)
•Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? (Romans 8:35b)
•No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)
•Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” (Matthew 14:16)
Reflection:
We will be catholic—the accepting, welcoming church for everyone, not just an exclusive, elite few. There is a special pride that comes from being part of the exclusive, the elite, the prime.
But to be catholic means to find another joy: the pleasure of accepting and welcoming the poor, the blind, the stumbling, the crippled, the imperfect, the confused, the mistaken, and the different. It doesn’t mean that we lower our standards of authentic discipleship, rather that we raise our standards to Christ-like acceptance.
Then one day, when he was on his way home, he met a leper on the road. Francis had always feared lepers and was nauseated by even the sight of them. But when he saw this leper, he realized that he had been able to pray in the cave because God had drawn near to him for embracing those whom others had rejected and who he himself had previously found repulsive.
And so he jumped off his horse, went over to the leper and not only gave him money, but embraced him. And when the young Francis turned to leave, he looked back and there was no one on the road. Francis knew that once again he had embraced Christ; and because he had, he would continue to be able to hear Christ in prayer.
Ps 148:8-9, 15-16, 17-18
Rm 8:35, 37-39
Mt 14:13-21
Hello, I’m Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, with the “Sunday Soundbite” for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
My inner-city parish sponsors a soup kitchen, and the time I spend there is always a holy time. It’s holy because of the presence of Christ in both our guests who come for meals and in the volunteers and staff who serve them. The fact that this ministry revolves around food recalls for me the scene in today’s Gospel.
There, Jesus feeds a large crowd in a deserted place. When Matthew’s community heard this story, what connections would they have made? Perhaps they recalled the Hebrew Scriptures, where God fed the people of Israel in the desert. Perhaps those early Christians thought of their own situation, and of their obligation to feed those in need. And surely they imagined the heavenly banquet, at the end of time.
But I suspect this story also reminded them of their Sunday Eucharist. The language Matthew uses to describe what Jesus does—blessing, breaking and giving bread—recalls a similar description of the actions of Christ at the Last Supper.
For me, and for my parishioners—all those connections are present in our soup kitchen ministry: our link with our Scriptural tradition, our hope for the banquet feast of heaven, and especially the Eucharist. Our Sunday Mass nourishes us, prepares us, obliges us, even, to feed the hungry who wander in our urban desert, seeking nourishment and healing.
Scripture:
•Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! (Isaiah 55:1a)
•Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? (Isaiah 55:2a)
•Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! (Isaiah 55:1c)
•What will separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:35a)
•Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? (Romans 8:35b)
•No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)
•Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” (Matthew 14:16)
Reflection:
We will be catholic—the accepting, welcoming church for everyone, not just an exclusive, elite few. There is a special pride that comes from being part of the exclusive, the elite, the prime.
But to be catholic means to find another joy: the pleasure of accepting and welcoming the poor, the blind, the stumbling, the crippled, the imperfect, the confused, the mistaken, and the different. It doesn’t mean that we lower our standards of authentic discipleship, rather that we raise our standards to Christ-like acceptance.
Then one day, when he was on his way home, he met a leper on the road. Francis had always feared lepers and was nauseated by even the sight of them. But when he saw this leper, he realized that he had been able to pray in the cave because God had drawn near to him for embracing those whom others had rejected and who he himself had previously found repulsive.
And so he jumped off his horse, went over to the leper and not only gave him money, but embraced him. And when the young Francis turned to leave, he looked back and there was no one on the road. Francis knew that once again he had embraced Christ; and because he had, he would continue to be able to hear Christ in prayer.
posted by See Tho Zhang Jacob at
9:31 PM
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