Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast, where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the Word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The Lord be with you and with your spirit. Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord. 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 that 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 12 wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about 5,000 men, not counting women and children.
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ we have all heard the phrase words matter.
And when we're honest with ourselves, we realize how much they truly do.
Words can bring immense comfort and an expression of love.
Words can also cut to the quick.
They can do so much damage that sometimes can feel like it's impossible to heal.
But beyond simple words, mattering tone can matter as well.
I will give you an example.
If I said to you, great, you're here, you'd feel like you were wanted. If I said, great, you're here, the exact opposite would happen.
And there are all kinds of ways that when we express ourselves, it tells something that is deeper.
Well, in this gospel, in the interchange between Jesus and his followers, there is a tone that I believe Jesus used that began to teach them something about how to move from a follower to a disciple when they come in distress because there's all these people gathered around and they're worried about them. They say to him, let them go so they can go get dinner.
What does he say to them?
Give them some food yourselves.
And I think that's the tone he used because he wanted to teach them that they had the ability to do great and marvelous things if they do a couple of things.
And one of them is to act with love and generosity, but the other one is to act in full communion with him, realizing that what they do isn't about themselves, but that it was about their relationship to Christ.
And they took him up on that challenge.
And what did they find?
They found that their words, that their ability to manifest his love in that great crowd was able to change hearts.
And all of a sudden, these people who were gathered together, some with plenty, some with nothing, began to realize that they had to share.
So they reached into their haversacks and everything they brought with them and said, oh, look, I got a loaf of bread.
Oh, look, I got a fish.
Oh, look, I've got something else. Let's bring it together and make sure everybody gets enough.
And all of a sudden, this great multitude that had seemingly nothing had more than enough.
And that is pretty much exactly what living in Christ is like.
If we trust in him enough, if we allow him to work through us, all of a sudden, all those things that we might think are lacking are given to us in abundance.
We just have to listen to the challenge he gave them and take it upon us as well when we are worried and say, boy, we pray for peace.
Yeah, that's good.
Make it happen yourselves.
When we pray for the poor to be fed, yes, but I've got to do my part as well.
When we pray for a world that is kind and loving and compassionate, yes, prayer is important, but we have to do something ourselves.
Why don't you give them something to eat?
