Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
After taking counsel, the king made two calves of gold and said to the people: «You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here is your God, o Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt». And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan. This led to sin, because the people frequented those calves in Bethel and in Dan. He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the people who were not Levites. Jeroboam established a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month to duplicate in Bethel the pilgrimage feast of Judah, with sacrifices to the calves he had made; and he stationed in Bethel priests of the high places he had built.
Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways after this, but again made priests for the high places from among the common people. Whoever desired it was consecrated and became a priest of the high places. This was a sin on the part of the house of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth.
They made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image; they exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt, wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea.
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over—seven baskets. There were about four thousand people. He dismissed them and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
“They have nothing to eat”
Fr. Carles ELÍAS i Cao (Barcelona, Spain)Today in a time of inclemency and unrest, Jesus also calls us to tell us that his “heart is moved with pity for the crowd” (Mk 8:2). Today, with peace in crisis, fear, apathy, recourse to banality and evasion can abound: “They have nothing to eat.”
Who does the Lord call? The text says: “His disciples” (Mk 8:1), that is, he calls me, so as not to send them away hungry, but to give them something. Jesus has taken pity — this time in the land of pagans — because they are also hungry.
Ah! And we — refugees in our little world — say that we can do nothing. “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” (Mk 8:4). Where will we get a word of sure and firm hope, knowing that the Lord will be with us every day until the end of time? How can we tell believers and unbelievers that violence and death are not a solution?
Today, the Lord simply asks us how many loaves of bread we have. He needs however many we have. The text says “seven,” a symbol for pagans, just as twelve was a symbol for the Jewish people. The Lord wants to reach out to everyone—that is why the Church wants to recognize itself as Catholic—and asks for your help. Give him your prayer: it is a loaf of bread! Give him your lived Eucharist: it is another loaf of bread! Give him your decision for reconciliation with your loved ones, with those who have offended you: it is another loaf of bread! Give him your sacramental reconciliation with the Church: it is another loaf of bread! Give him your small sacrifice, your fasting, your solidarity: it is another loaf of bread! Give him your love for his Word, which gives you comfort and strength: it is another loaf of bread! Give him, in short, whatever he asks of you, even if you think it is only a little bread.
As St. Gregory of Nyssa tells us, “He who shares his bread with the poor becomes part of him who, for our sake, wanted to be poor. The Lord was poor, do not fear poverty.”
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“For our Lord’s breaking the bread means the opening of mysteries. His giving of thanks shows how great a joy He feels in the salvation of the human race. His giving the loaves to His disciples that they might set them before the people, signifies that He assigns to the Apostles His will that by their ministry the food of life should be distributed to the Church.” (Saint Bede the Venerable)
“This miracle was not intended merely to satisfy hunger for a day, but rather it signals what Christ wants to accomplish for the salvation of all mankind, giving his own flesh and blood.” (Francis)
“The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meat when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread (…). It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection, and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies (…).” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 1329)
