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|| Today’s Theme is “Comfort” ||
Reading 1: Isaiah 55: 1-3
(The 1st Reading is Old Testament. It always links to the Gospel.)
We are back in Isaiah this week – one of the longest books in scripture. Chapter 55 is, as you might expect, almost the end.
Isaiah is often dubbed “the 5th gospel” because of the immense coverage the writer gives to Christ’s life, death and resurrection. The 2nd half of this book is “The Book of Consolation” (the 1st half is called “The Book of Judgment.”
We can hear the sentiments of consolation in this reading – we are invited to come to the Lord for comfort!
What do you need comfort for this week? See yourself in this reading and know that the Lord is near, and that He deeply desires to stand with us when we need comfort. He is The Great Comforter.
Thus says the LORD:
All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
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?
Heed me, and you shall eat well,
you shall delight in rich fare.
Come to me heedfully,
listen, that you may have life.
I will renew with you the everlasting covenant,
the benefits assured to David.
Responsorial Psalm: 145
The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
(The Psalm is a “response” to what we heard in the 1st Reading)
Listen to the themes of comfort in these beautiful verses, which add to the theme of the first reading.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
2nd reading: Romans 8: 35, 37-39
(The 2nd reading is usually from one Paul’s letters. It speaks to how the early church was built after the passion, death and resurrection of Christ).
We’ve been in the 8th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans for a long time now – today he’s highlighting UNITY. That is the theme of nearly all of Paul’s letters because that was his purpose whenever he wrote…. he wrote letters to cities that were not unified in the church. They were confused about what to do, what to follow, and what to believe. So Paul’s letters to each city were meant to help guide them.
In today’s reading, Paul focuses on the all-conquering power of God’s love. He talks about how that kind of Love – the Love of Christ – has overcome every obstacle to Christians’ salvation and every threat to separate them from God:
Brothers and sisters:
What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21
(The Gospel is the Highest Point of the Liturgy of the Word. We are about to be instructed by Christ Himself, and that is why we stand.)
If we think back to the first reading today, it’s all about comfort. Isaiah says (on behalf of God), “Heed me and you shall eat well.”
And today’s gospel is about coming to God for comfort — for comfort food. That’s right, we’re at the loaves and the fishes gospel today. God gives the people some serious comfort food. So much that there are 12 baskets of leftovers! Talk about filling the people’s bellies all the way, right?
The other piece to think about here is that Jesus had withdrawn to a deserted place at the outset of the reading. He’d just heard about the beheading of John the Baptist and went away.
But His people needed Him. The crowds had come to follow him, and when He saw them He knew: The crowds needed comfort. They needed food – both the sustaining kind of the Earth, and also the everlasting kind of His Body.
Sometimes when we retreat from the world, or from our families, or from our problems, people (or maybe thoughts) follow us. In my case, that is usually children. I want to step away to a quiet place, and 30 seconds later I hear knocking on my door. I sigh.
I try to remember that before too long, no one will be here to knock and need me. They’ll be grown up and moved out with families of their own. But in the moment that is hard to remember sometimes!
But God is always ready to receive us. He is the ultimate Father figure, and whenever we knock, no matter the reason, he is there to comfort us and “fill our bellies” – physically perhaps and always spiritually.
If you could knock on God’s door right now – right this minute – what would you tell Him you need? “God? I need you. I need this thing and I wonder if you’d help me with it please?”
Let’s knock and know the door shall be opened for us.
When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.
Banquet of the Word 