Dear Parishioners,
Last weeks' readings reminded us to follow the Good Shepherd who is always there to care for us, serve us and searches for us when we go astray. He exhorts us to be His voice in our community. A clear voice, gentle and kind, challenging, yet understanding and forgiving. As the apostles were sent with the word of Jesus, so to we are called to share the Good News.
Today’s readings challenge us to step forward with our gifts and realize that by offering them to God he can do more with them than we ever imagined.
In the gospel, Jesus brings to fulfilment the old testament prophesy and feeds the 5000. “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus takes what is so little and turns it into an abundance. “So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.” They had more left over than they started with.
Similarly, we have a tendency to focus on deprivation rather than the abundance that God sees. Our trust in God deepens whenever we offer our spiritual and temporal gifts to God.
Today’s Gospel in the 6th Chapter of John remind us of the importance of who we receive in the Eucharist. The entire Gospel is a reflection on our Eucharistic celebration.
Jesus went up the mountain and sat down to teach his Apostles. He asks them how they will feed the people and the offering is made. Our Offertory at mass is where we make an offering of ourselves to support the mission of the parish and the Church. Jesus takes our offering and blesses and breaks it and it becomes more than we could ever imagine. This is the Eucharist. We offer God our gifts in thanksgiving for his blessings and Jesus offers us His Divine Life in the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity as we receive communion.
Starting with an offering what seems to be so little, Jesus transforms it into the source and summit of our faith. We offer ourselves and Jesus, not to be outdone in generosity, out-does us by offering us His Divine Life and opening us up to receive the spiritual nourishment necessary to continue the mission.
As we receive communion, let us not focus on what is lacking in our offering but rather the abundance that God sees and wishes to share with the world through us.
Jesus, I Trust in You
Let us continue to pray for each other and with each other as we share the message of God's Mercy
May God bless you and your families,
Fr. Gerard Monaghan