Fr. Michael Williams

Whenever we come to Mass Jesus welcomes us. The first phrase in today’s gospel says, ‘Jesus made the crowds welcome’. He is pleased that we are here with Him, because He knows that we are in need of Him. Jesus welcomed crowds of people into His presence two thousand years ago, and today He welcomes crowds into His presence once again. Across the world today, thousands and thousands of crowds, are being welcomed by Christ in churches across the earth. As members of the Body of Christ, we are called to imitate Him. We are called to be welcoming to people when they come to Mass by being courteous and kind to them.

After welcoming the crowd Jesus ‘talked to them about the Kingdom of God’. Whenever we come to Mass we talk and think about the Kingdom of God. It is important that at least once a week, we ‘talk about the Kingdom of God’. The Kingdom of God is an everlasting Kingdom, whereas the things of this world are passing away.

After talking about the Kingdom of God the gospel tells us that Jesus, ‘cured those who were in need of healing’. Whenever we come to Mass we come to be healed. Christ is the Divine Physician, who seeks to heal bodies and souls. Christ is still healing bodies. There is a man who works with the Missionaries of Charity in Seel St. He was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. He went on a pilgrimage to St Winifred’s Well, north Wales. After going into the well, the terrible pain left him and the doctors cannot understand it. Christ also heals souls damaged by sin. This is most clearly manifested through the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. When a priest absolves (or dissolves) the sins of somebody in a state of serious sin that person is returned to the grace of God.

Our Lord’s feeding of the five thousand has a double meaning.

Firstly, it shows the great compassion of Christ for a hungry crowd. The disciples wanted to send the hungry crowd away on an empty stomach, but Jesus felt sorry for them, and wanted them to be fed immediately. Jesus was not like the disciples or indeed the leaders of the world’s richest countries, the G8, who do not appear to want to alleviate the sufferings of the hungry in Africa. Jesus wanted to solve the hungry crowds plight immediately. As His followers we all have a responsibility in ensuring that the hungry people of our world are fed. We can do this through donations, and through putting pressure on our political leaders.

Secondly, Our Lord’s feeding of the five thousand has a spiritual meaning. It points toward the establishment of the Holy Eucharist. This is clear in the language St Luke uses in today’s gospel when he says: ‘Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, raised His eyes to Heaven, and said the blessing over them, then He broke them and handed them to His disciples’. Later when Jesus institutes the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper St Luke tells us, ”‘Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My Body’”. The parallels between the feeding and the five thousand and the Last Supper are clear.

Yet at the Last Supper Jesus performed His greatest miracle, even greater than feeding the five thousand, with five loaves and two fish. At the Last Supper, and at every Mass, Jesus changes bread and wine into His Body and Blood by the power of God’s Spirit. He did this so that we would have spiritual food for our journey through life. Last Sunday an Iraqi priest and three deacons were shot dead, martyred, because they had celebrated Mass. Fr Ragheed Aziz Ganni had said recently, ‘There are days when I feel frail and full of fear. But when holding the Eucharist, I say ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’, I feel His strength in me. When I hold the Host in my hand, it is really He who is holding me and all of us’. Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist to strengthen us, just as He strengthened Fr Ragheed Aziz Ganni. Let us always give thanks to God for the gift of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. For two thousand years Jesus has been feeding the crowds with spiritual food, let us always give thanks to Him for it, and never, ever take this great gift for granted.