Father Rick Bolte's Homily

B:17th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Seldom in scripture are there details included in stories that have no particular significance.  Insignificant details usually get lost in the retelling.  Both the first reading and the gospel reading tell of God multiplying food that not only feeds the crowd that is present but also has food left over.  The writers are emphasizing the overabundance of God’s gifts to us.

Though we may pay lip service to that belief, many of us doubt how true that really is.  We have prayed for things, good things that we or others needed, and God has not given them to us.  We’ve prayer for health and healing, for new or better work, for good grades, better relationships, etc. all to seeming no avail.  We want to believe but it’s hard to feel confident that God really answers our prayer.

Since we view these things as good, we don’t realize our prayer is really asking God to do our will.  God’s will is far less concerned with things or even our health.  We know that’s true even in our own lives when we think about it, we just don’t think about it so often.  If there’s a major disaster, things are destroyed and or our or other’s health is diminished, we will say, “At least we still have . . . (those we love.)”  It is the love we share in relationships that truly means the most to us.  Sometimes we hang onto a childhood image that God’s kingdom is about going to a new place where we get everything we always wanted.  It’s almost like a game where we think we are called to do without things in this life so we can get them in the next.  Trying not to be selfish and caught up in things now will give us the opportunity to be selfish and caught up in things in heaven.  But Jesus said that the kingdom of God is already in our midst.  We are invited to enter it now.  What the future holds for us is what we are invited into now, namely good, loving relationships wherein we even now begin to experience God.

God’s kingdom is in our midst, we can avail ourselves to all that God has to offer.  And there is no limit to what God wants us to share.  But the problem we have with God’s kingdom is that it leaves us not fully in charge.  We like what is actually a more Protestant notion that we, as individuals, determine our own fate.  We alone, in our private relationship with God, determine our salvation.  This is not what Jesus taught but we like being able to say, “I’ve been saved!”  If God’s kingdom is about what we share, we need one another.  Saying “we are the Body of Christ” goes from an interesting concept to an uncomfortable reality.  Believe it or not, I cannot experience God without you.  And you can’t without me and those around you.  Both personal prayer and reflection and community/church are essential elements of our relationship with God.

In our gospel reading today, there is another little detail that may seem meaningless; it’s a reference to the Passover coming soon.  This isn’t irrelevant but points us to the connection between the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the Passover/Eucharist.  Note that in the first reading there is a man who brings Elisha the barley loaves that are the first fruits and the fresh grain.  In the gospel there is a boy with five barley loaves and two fish, all he had for himself.  It is the offerings of these that God transforms to be a gift for all the people.  Likewise it is our offering that is to be transformed.  In the Eucharist we offer the bread and wine which represents our willingness to give of ourselves, our life.  We pray that it is acceptable.  We ask that our sacrifice of ourselves may be joined to Christ’s.  Jesus is the sacrificial lamb of the Passover and the sacrifice of the Mass.  For us to be transformed into the Body of Christ, we like the man for Elisha and the boy for Jesus have to give of ourselves, ultimately all of ourselves. 

The things we generally ask God to give us are the things we have for a higher purpose; they are not goals in and of themselves.  When we ask for them, it may or may not be part of God’s plan.  Whatever we are given, the challenge for us is to use them (all our time, talent, and treasure – our very selves) for the benefit of these relationships that make us the Body of Christ – the church.  This is the reason the Catholic Church requires us to attend Mass weekly as a minimum.  It’s not that God is counting how often we come to Church and giving us stars or black marks accordingly.  It’s to invite us into his Body as we can know it now, to be church.  Let us celebrate the Eucharist choosing to offer ourselves with Christ and be God’s kingdom here on earth.