Word to the Wise
Sunday, August 3, 2008 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Isaiah 55:1-3; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21]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?
Isaiah's vision of God giving true nourishment to the people would have been known to those in the crowd who received the bread and fish from Jesus. The profound meaning of food is so much a part of Judaeo-Christian tradition! It is also a physical manifestation of a culture and identity. When I cook Louisiana favorites like red beans and rice or gumbo, it is not just beans or soup! It is an experience of many other shared memories and cultural expressions! It also presumes a community to consume it and enjoy it. Isaiah's vision and Jesus' response to the crowd reflect the profound love that St. Paul speaks of in the second scripture today. Giving food to the hungry is considered one of the important Christian actions. (cf. especially Matthew 25: 31-46). Giving food is like giving life! As the Christian community reflected on this action of Jesus as well as the experience of the Last Supper, the understanding of the Eucharist began to take root. It didn't take long but they had to appreciate the profound mystery of how bread and wine could become the very person of Jesus Christ. If our attendance at services on Sunday is merely "going to Mass" and not attending the Lord's Supper, we are missing the whole meaning of the sacrament/event. It is more than compulsory ritual - it is life itself! We musn't give so much emphasis to the change in the bread and wine that we forget about the significance of our consuming it! Jesus is not a magician. He is Lord of life and food of life! AMEN
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