May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for
us.
Our message today is simple:
Jesus Christ feeds his people.
In that deserted place where the Lord Jesus went after he
heard about the death of John the Baptist, he fed the people who followed
him. He fed them in abundance. He fed them through the hands of his
disciples. He fed them until all had
eaten and were satisfied. In that
deserted place, the Lord Jesus fed his people.
In our reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord
God promised to feed his people. The
Lord God promised a rich banquet with grain, wine, milk, and all kinds of rich
fare. The promise of this banquet was
given to all who were hungry and all who were thirsty. God himself would provide the banquet. All who were willing to hear the call of the
Lord were invited to the banquet. Those
who attended the feast needed only to bring themselves.
In that deserted place, the Lord Jesus invited the disciples
to cooperate with him in feeding his people.
It was the disciples who recognized that the large crowd needed to be
fed. It was the disciples who presented
this need to the Lord. And it was from
the disciples that the Lord Jesus received the five loaves of bread and the two
fish. The disciples were privileged to
participate in the work of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus invited his disciples
to share in the banquet. The Lord Jesus
invited his disciples to share in his work of feeding his people.
When the Lord Jesus fed his people in that deserted place, he
took the gifts of bread and fish. He
raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. He broke the bread. Then he gave it to his disciples and his
disciples shared it with the crowd. He
took. He blessed. He broke and he gave. In that deserted place, the Lord Jesus fed
his people through the hands of his disciples. In that deserted place, He showed how he would
continue to feed his people, in every time and place, through the hands of his
disciples.
In every celebration of the Holy Mass, the Lord Jesus takes
bread, says the blessing, breaks the bread, and gives it to his people. Christ himself is the celebrant of the
banquet. Christ himself, through the
ministry of his priest, takes, blesses breaks and gives. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the
Sacrament of Holy Orders, Jesus Christ himself feeds his people. This is not my work. This is not your work. In fact, this is not our work. This is the work of Christ the Savior and
High Priest in which we have been invited to participate.
We have been invited by the Lord Jesus to bring him our five
loaves and two fish. We have been
invited to present the needs of the crowd to the Savior of the World. We have been invited to share in the work
that He is doing. As we celebrate this
Eucharist, and Lord Jesus takes, blesses, breaks and gives himself in our
midst, may we hear his invitation, share in his work, and rejoice because Jesus
Christ continues to feed his people.
Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes
Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
