[stephenkhoo]

BE LIKE CHRIST, THE BREAD BROKEN FOR THE WORLD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 55:1-3; ROM 8:35.37-39; MT 14:13-21
http://www.universalis.com/20140803/mass.htm

We are all hungry, like the Israelites and the Jews in today’s scripture readings. We crave to satisfy our material needs. But whatever we have never seems to be enough. We also worry about our physical health. Today, many of us not only look after our health but are obsessed about our body. We go for all kinds of slimming products and solutions so that we will not only be healthy but look forever young!

Even if we can satisfy our material needs in life, we might still not find happiness and peace. This dissatisfaction and restlessness in our hearts is a sign that Jesus is trying to get our attention. He wants us to search deeper into ourselves and ask why there is the feeling of emptiness in our lives. What is causing this vacuum in our hearts?

At the bottom of all this hunger is a spiritual problem because God is absent in our lives. We are a selfish and broken people. Many are under some kind of bondages, whether it is to anger, revenge and hatred, envy and pride. Others suffer from addictions to pornography, lust, gambling, drinking and stealing. As a result, we are unable to love. We have no peace of mind, living in deep anxiety and frustrations. There seems to be no end to the tunnel.

The Good News is that in the first reading, God reminds Israel of His covenantal love for them. God, who is faithful in love, would never abandon them. And so in their exile and captivity, in their hunger and thirst, God promised them hope and an invitation to drink and eat of Him so that they will never be hungry and thirsty again.

In the gospel, we see how Jesus the compassionate shepherd never left His flock hungry and untended. Even when He was feeling sad upon hearing that John the Baptist was beheaded; and although wanting to be alone with His disciples to grieve over his death, He put the needs and the sufferings of others before His own pain. He was moved not just by a feeling of pity but an active compassion to teach and heal them. How many of us can do that? When we are feeling sad and down, we can only think of our pain, oblivious to the sufferings of others. But not Jesus; the sufferings of others are more important than His pain. He is able to make space for others in His heart.

In multiplying the loaves, Jesus defined who He really was for humanity, a man truly for others. John the Baptist’s cruel death must have struck Him that He, too, would have to follow the path of martyrdom if He were to proclaim the Father’s love. This feeding of the Five Thousand anticipates His own passion. In the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus was presenting Himself dramatically as the One who comes to feed us, with His body and blood. He is the love of God in person. He will satisfy our thirst and hunger. Just as there were twelve baskets of left-over, the abundance of God’s love can satisfy everyone.

Jesus is the free gift of God in person. This is what the prophet meant when he said, “Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy corn without money, and eat, and, at no cost, wine and milk.” Obviously this passage is a prefiguring of the Eucharistic meal that the Lord provides for His people.

Indeed, the love of God is made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord, both in His preaching and doing, especially in the Eucharist. When we know that God loves us in a real and concrete way, St Paul says, “Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked … These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.”

Indeed, when we are loved, we can endure all sufferings in life. Certainly we do not look forward to suffer. That would be abnormal. But we do not mind suffering because of Him and for someone whom we love or for someone who loves us. When we know that God is with us, we will be able to join Jesus in carrying the cross unto death, for we know that with Jesus, we will triumph at the end. Just as the love of Jesus for His Father could not separate them even at the cross, so too we can be certain that when God loves us, we will triumph.

Yes, to find life and direction and inspiration, we must listen to the voice of the Lord so that we can discern the movements of His Spirit in our lives. The reason why many of us are confused in life and lose courage so easily is because we do not listen to His Word. When we listen to Jesus, then we will come to realize what our real hunger in life is. Unless we eat of Him, we cannot find life. For the words that we eat will make us become like Him in mind and spirit.

Secondly, Jesus as the Bread of life satisfies our need for relationship and communion. In the reception of communion, we have a personal relationship with Jesus. Only a personal experience of His love, through the enlightenment of the mind and the presence of His love in our hearts, can we find peace and joy. When we have love in our hearts, especially the love of God, we need very few things to be happy.

However, we do not receive the Eucharist simply for ourselves. The Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ but it is also the Christian community. Jesus comes to give us Himself not only through the Sacrament of the Eucharist but by giving us a relationship with God and with each other. The Eucharist can be truly an experience of God when it is celebrated with a community, for each one of us is called to bring Jesus to each other. Every one of us has been called by God to be a Eucharist to each other. By praying and worshipping together, we strengthen each other. By reading and sharing the Word of God together, we enlighten each other. Indeed, in many ways, we are called to offer each other the Word. It is not enough to receive the Eucharist individually, but in becoming more like Christ we are called to give ourselves to each other. Indeed, the purpose of receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is in order that we too live out the truth and meaning of life in love.

This is the implication of the command of Jesus whenever we celebrate the Eucharist. When He tells us to do this in memory of Him, He is not simply asking us to celebrate the Eucharist as a ritual as often as possible. He is saying to us that we too must be like Him, to give up our body for others, and our blood as well. In other words, we must be food for others. We are called to die for our spouse, children, loved ones, for the Church and also for society in general. Yes, we must use all our resources, not just what is left-over from our abundance, to help others. Like Jesus, we must become the bread broken for others. Only then can we find the meaning of life, which is love in service.

This is where the difficulty or danger lies. Many of us tend to excuse ourselves, like the disciples. “We have only five loaves and two fish”, they said.-Like them we find that our care and compassion is very often limited to prayer and good wishes. Like the disciples we wish people well but have no intention of taking positive action to help the situation. Their solution is to send them away. Yet, Jesus told them, “feed them yourselves!” In fact, He is saying, “feed them with yourselves!”

We are responsible to bring the Eucharist to others by extending His love and mercy. Some of us might feel that we have nothing much to offer. But when we bring the little that we have to Jesus, He will multiply them for us. All we need to do is to have the desire to give ourselves in service to others. Truly, all that Jesus needs from us to feed the hungry crowds of the world is our “five loaves and two fish.”

What do we give to Him? Firstly, give Him your time, especially in prayer. If you are willing to invest your time in prayer and pray with your heart and soul, He will enlighten you and empower you in your life. He will refresh you with His love.

Secondly, give Him your service and talents. Allow the Lord to lead you to serve people, for in service you will come to know the joy of loving and giving. Whatever you give to the Lord, He will transform it beyond your imagination. He has done so with the bread, and He will do so with whatever meager efforts you give to Him. The truth is that we are not poor in things and money or talents but poor in life. This is why we are truly poor.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh