This week we focus on the Eucharist, the Lord’s heavenly banquet. 

In our first reading from the book of Isaiah we are invited by God to come to the water if we are thirsty, eat good bread if we are hungry, come to God so that we may live!  We do not need money to have what will satisfy us!  God says, “I will make a covenant with you, and my covenant will last forever.”  This reading from the book of Isaiah is interpreted as an invitation to baptism and Eucharist.

The Gospel according to Matthew on Sunday is an account of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.  Over 5,000 people are present to hear Jesus, to be with him.  Despite his own grief over the death of John the Baptist Jesus goes among the people and heals them.  When evening comes the disciples are concerned that all these people have been here all day long and are in need of food.  They won’t leave Jesus’ presence and so they ask Jesus to tell the people to go to the villages to get food.  Jesus tells the disciples to feed the people rather than send them to get food but all they have is 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.  Jesus took the bread, looked up to heaven and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples to give to the people.  All ate and were satisfied and there were 12 baskets of bread left over.

The Eucharist is the Lord’s supper that feeds us now (all ate and were satisfied) and promises more for the future (12 baskets of bread left over).  The miracle of the loaves and fish is represents the Eucharist.  Notice that it is the bread that is multiplied, not the fish.  This makes the connection to the Eucharist more evident. 

Each Sunday our priest offers the same blessing over the bread, breaks it and gives it to us, just as Jesus did for all those people that day.  The sacrifice, the covenant, recreated for us each week in the mass.  Each week that sacrifice is witnessed by all present and all present receive the promise of the covenant in the Eucharist.

“Liturgy is a memorial of Christ’s dying and rising, re-presented
now, so that we can participate in these saving events and be
changed by them.” Msgr Kidder

We are being instructed this week to recognize what we NEED for life and how that need is fulfilled by God through his covenant with us.  We are learning that we do not need money or pride to obtain what is necessary; all that is necessary for life is a gift from God. 

The Psalm this week is Psalm 145: The Hand of the Lord Feeds Us

Have a blessed week!