(See the readings for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
The saying “A picture paints a thousand words” proposes that an image can reflect an experience or reality that is beyond what words can express. There is certainly a truth reflected in this notion. Yet words can also express an experience or reality that is beyond what we can fully comprehend or understand.
The Gospel account for this Sunday’s liturgy recalls the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Interestingly, this is the only miracle story recounted in all four of the written Gospels. The story is told by each evangelist as though they were painting a picture. They provide information for us the reader or listener to fuel our imagination so that we can see, in our mind, what is happening in the scene.
In this passage from St. Matthew we are invited to reflect on the greatness of God’s love in several different ways. We can see the large crowd gathering about Jesus. The number of people is enormous. At the end of the passage we hear of 5,000 men which does not account for the women and children. Most of the people would be at a distance from Jesus but just to be with Him, even at a distance, is worth the effort.
We might try to imagine the crowd following on land to the “deserted place” Jesus was heading toward by boat. When Jesus disembarks and sees the vast crowd, “his heart was moved with pity” or compassion. He knows their longing and wishes to satisfy it. He does this first by staying with them and curing the sick. Then He feeds them.
The miracle is beyond comprehension or human understanding as to the “how.” The “why,” however, is linked to Jesus’ compassion. He feeds them because He is moved by compassion for their hunger. He has already fed their souls with His presence; He now feeds their bodies. He not only provides for them, He does so in a manner that goes beyond their “needs” for all were satisfied and there was an abundance of left overs.
The fragments symbolically represented by the 12 baskets paints a picture representing the Church which is built on the foundation of the 12 apostles. It is the Church who carries forward the love and compassion of Jesus and continues to provide for His people.
God’s compassion and care for His people are also seen in the first reading from Isaiah. Here the prophet’s words invite us to conjure images in our imagination of thirst and hunger being satisfied through the loving compassion and providence of the Lord. “Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!”
The Lord not only provides for the body but for the soul too, as He invites us through the prophet to “Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.” He is offering us His word which brings life.
We hear elsewhere that “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” In light of the Gospel, we may also see in these images the baptismal waters in which our longing for eternal life is met in union with the One who died and rose from the dead.
Perhaps this is the image that St. Paul paints for us. He speaks eloquently of the power and magnitude of God’s love. The death and resurrection of Jesus witness to the depth of God’s love and mercy. His love brings life, he satisfies all our needs, so St. Paul writes:
“What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The readings for this Sunday’s liturgy paint a picture of God’s immense love. He has compassion for us in all our needs whatever they may be; He sees and has compassion. He invites us to place our faith in Him, His words and Word. In doing so, we open our hearts to receive in abundance His gift of life and love: “to eat and be satisfied.”
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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of St. Dorothy Parish in Drexel Hill and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Read more reflections by Msgr. Prior here.
The post We Hear God’s Word, and He Feeds Us With His Immense Love appeared first on CatholicPhilly.
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