World Hunger
16th Sunday In Ordinary Time, B
2009-07-19
Mark 6:30-34There’s a pretty common occurrence in my house, just about every day at around 5 in the afternoon. Like clockwork, one by one, the kids wander into the kitchen from every corner of the house. At first they don’t speak.
Like zombies, they slowly start pulling open cabinets, cupboards and refrigerators. Then, they do the strangest thing. They just stare. They don’t touch anything. They just examine the contents with a glazed look in their eyes, pouring over Pringles, pretzels and Pop-Tarts™.
Pretty soon, one of them will muster the energy to say, “Do we have anything to eat?”
Now, the fact that this happens every single day could be enough to drive mom and dad a little batty. But, I don’t get mad, because I know what’s going on. It’s a simple application of the natural law. The kids are hungry, and at least they’re smart enough to come to the place where they know their hunger can be satisfied.
Interestingly, that’s exactly what’s happening in today’s Gospel reading. People from all over the area were gathering together wherever Jesus was to be found. And Jesus, doesn’t get mad either. In fact, St. Mark tells us “He was moved with pity for them.”
They were simply following the natural law. They were hungry and came to the place where they knew they could be fed. They came to Christ.
How do we know they were hungry? Just read on. In the very next lines of Sacred Scripture, St. Mark tells the account of one of Jesus’ greatest public miracles, when He miraculously fed the 5000 with only 5 loaves and 2 fishes.
Yes, these people were hungry, and so, Christ fed them.
But, there’s something deeper here. In fact, there’s always something deeper in Sacred Scripture.
They weren’t just physically hungry. They were spiritually hungry. St. Mark tells us, “For they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He began to teach them many things.”
Yes, they were hungry, and Jesus filled them with food – not only for their stomachs, but, for their hearts, minds and souls as well.
And, this was a food they instinctively knew they could only get from Jesus.
This feeding of the 5000 was a foreshadowing, a type for a food far greater than the loaves and fishes: the Most Holy Eucharist, Jesus Himself: food for body and soul.
These people St. Mark speaks of were lost and in need. So out of love, Jesus gave them His word and He gave them a foreshadowing of His very Flesh.
On that particular day, nearly 2000 years ago, He took the bread, looked up to heaven, blessed it, broke it and gave it to his disciples to distribute among the people to satisfy their hunger. And, only a short time later, He would again take, bless, break and give the bread on the eve of His death at the Last Supper, but, this last time, it would be different. On that final night, Jesus gave us Himself in the Eucharist.
Amazingly, not much has changed in 2000 years.
We are still a people who are hungry. And, in this day and time, the world is filled with people who wander like “sheep without a shepherd.”
You need only to look around you. Sin abounds around us, and sometimes within us. There is a darkness that pervades our modern world, a darkness that can so easily overtake us if we are not prepared or protected from it.
People are hungry.
Abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research and contraception are destroying life itself.
People are hungry.
Adultery, fornication, homosexual marriage, drug addiction and pornography are destroying families.
People are hungry.
Greed, hatred, discrimination and war are destroying our society.
Indeed, people ARE hungry.
But, providentially, many people among the lost have gathered in the ONLY place where they will be fed. Like my kids finding the kitchen, we have found this Church: the Church founded on the rock of St. Peter by Christ Himself; the Church whose sole authority reigns among so many worldly authorities which claim to have all the answers; the Church who feeds us with the very Sacraments Christ instituted. And, we have come here to be relieved of our hunger…because we know that this is the ONLY place that can truly satisfy that hunger.
So many people ask me how I think the things Jesus did 2000 years ago could possibly relate to us today. Do you not see the connection?
Those many years ago, Jesus took pity on the people and gave them the food they needed to survive. What started with 5 loaves and 2 fishes, fed thousands. But, it didn’t stop there. He gave them the teachings they would require to live as well. Throughout His years of ministry, He gave them the very words of Eternal Life.
What only started as a meal became so much more…not just then, but NOW.
In fact, think about it, that same exact action of taking, blessing, breaking and giving the Bread of Life is repeated time and time again…at every Mass in every time in history in every corner of the world.
Our Mass is rooted in the very actions of Christ. It is broken into two distinct parts, the Liturgy of the Word as we are nourished by the words of Sacred Scripture, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, as we are nourished by Jesus’ Real Presence among us.
And as it was for those hungry souls some 2000 years ago, it is for us today.
This Holy Mass exists for one reason: because Jesus sees these crowds and takes pity on us. He knows we are in need. He knows we hunger. And, He knows that nothing can satisfy our hunger, but His Real Presence in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
So as we gather together hungering for mercy…
…Hungering for hope and healing…
…Hungering for joy and happiness…
…Hungering for purpose and meaning…
…Hungering for Eternal Truth…
…Let us not only open our ears to the Word and our mouths to the Eucharist, but let us open our souls to the fulfillment only God can provide, that our hunger may be satisfied for ever more.