18th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Cycle
A
August
3, 2014 4:00 and 5:30pm Masses
Saint Margaret Parish,
Bel Air
Hunger
This
past week, I checked some statistics on hunger in the world.
I found
that there are 842 million people suffering from malnutrition – which means
that they do not get enough food to be healthy.
Most of these people are in Southern and Eastern Asia, in sub-Saharan
Africa, and in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Just
imagine that. It means that nearly 1 of
every 7 persons in the world suffers from malnutrition.
In
developing countries, one-third of all deaths of children comes from
under-nutrition. In the developed world,
the physical or mental growth of one-fourth of the children is stunted by
inadequate nutrition.
One of
every six Americans is unable to buy enough food. That number is true in our own state of
Maryland.
“Give them
some food yourselves.”
I got
focused on this issue because of today’s gospel.
A lot
of people are gathered around Jesus and it is getting to be evening. They are hungry and the disciples want Jesus
to send them away to go get food for themselves.
But
Jesus says: “Give them some food
yourselves.” I think he is saying
the same thing to us – today!
We are
not to ignore the people who are hungry in Indonesia, the Philippines, Somalia,
Haiti, Guatemala or Baltimore City. We
are to give them something to eat.
Our
resources are limited, just as the resources of the disciples were
limited. But Jesus tells each of us to
do what we can.
If we
really and sincerely do that, apparently it will be enough. There will be enough to go around.
“Taking…looking…blessing…broke…gave…”
There is something
else in this gospel that is very significant.
Just recall what
happens. The disciples bring Jesus the
loaves of bread and the fish that they have.
And what does the
passage say? “Taking the loaves, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing,
broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples…”
These are the same
words the Scripture uses to describe the Last Supper. Jesus takes…looks up…blesses…breaks…and
gives.
So Jesus is
connecting physical food and spiritual food.
I think the connection happens in this way.
If we receive the
spiritual food, the consecrated bread and wine, Jesus’ Body and Blood, the Eucharist
– if we receive this, we are to be so changed and transformed that we have to
share physical food with those who are hungry.
We cannot do otherwise.
Father Pedro
Arrupe used to be the Father General of the Jesuits and he put it this
way. “We
cannot properly receive the Bread of life without sharing bread for life with
those in want.”
Isn’t that a great
way of stating it? “We cannot properly receive the Bread of life without sharing bread for
life with those in want.”
Jesus, the
Eucharist, is the Bread of life. We need
to allow this Bread to so affect us that we share bread for life with those who
suffer from hunger.
This is the impact
of the Scripture using the same words for the feeding of the 5,000 that it uses
for the Last Supper. The two, the
spiritual and the physical, must go together if we are to be fully alive in the
Lord.
Conclusion
So maybe we bring
a bag with a box of cereal and a can of tuna fish in it when we come to Mass and
this will go to the Harford Food Bank.
Or maybe we bake a casserole for the Our Daily Bread soup kitchen.
Or maybe we
contribute something to Catholic Relief Services that has an excellent food
distribution system to destitute parts of the world. Or maybe we are alert to public policies that
would help the hungry both here and around the world.
These are ways
that we can do something and heed Jesus’ words to “Give them some food yourselves.”
And, of course, we are empowered and moved to do this by the sacrament,
the spiritual food that we share here this afternoon.
