Our Lord is on a mission from God, sent by his Father.
He is God, he's come into the world, and he is on a mission to save us.
And he works hard at it, as he did in the episode recalled in today's gospel,
where he spent his whole time with the people and ministered to their every need.
He was concerned about the salvation of their soul.
Indeed, that's why he had come into the world to save their souls.
He didn't need to come into the world to feed them.
He had fed them with manna.
He didn't need to come into the world to feed them.
And he provides his people with every good as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But he came into the world because people needed to see the mercy of God.
They needed to see their salvation.
And they did see, and they heard, and they witnessed the power of God worked in their midst
through this one man who was also God,
who opposed himself as the Salvation of all.
The prophets before our Lord had always worked signs and wonders as we read about
in today's reading, the first reading from the Second Book of Kings,
where Elisha also multiplies the bread for the people to eat,
or the barley loaves,
and the people recognize him,
and the people recognize him,
and the people recognize him,
and the people recognize him,
and the people recognize him,
him for we as a prophet sent by God who speaks in the name of the Lord but we
know that the greater miracle in all of these encounters between God and his
people is that God is calling us away from our sinfulness and selfishness away
from our path that the path that leads us to death and and that of course is
the greater miracle that is indeed the greater miracle it is a greater miracle
to be saved from sin that it is to be fed miraculously by loaves and fishes
that have been have been multiplied our Lord had compassion on his people he saw
that they were hungry that they were like sheep without a shepherd that they
were in need and he challenged his apostles to to believe that he could
provide for them
you
and the apostles were not altogether convinced until our Lord actually worked
the miracle and when he did work the miracle everyone recognized him for who
he was they said he's a prophet truly this is the prophet the one who has come
into the world and they wanted to be with him but our Lord knew instinctively
that that they were so weak and so attached to to the comfort in this world
that it wouldn't be long before they got it all mixed up and they were so weak
they were so weak the rest of us they thought they knew who was a Job they knew he was a
prophet more
he was promised to come into the world they identified him as the messiah
basically but they were looking for a messiah that would give them food in this
world
would provide them for with the with the needs of this world and who would
ultimately deliver them from begun I � sack sit on the Having him again then led more relevant honor than Elementary Revival
crossed the lake after this miracle and went to the other side and the people followed him there
because they were looking for food for their belly. They wanted to follow our Lord so that
he would feed them so maybe they wouldn't have to work free handout for the rest of their lives.
He would give them everything they needed. That wasn't why our Lord had come. Our Lord worked
this miracle out of compassion and he was trying to lift up their hearts, lift up their minds to
something more important. But in their human weakness and in our human weakness, we easily
get things wrong. We easily get sidetracked and forget what it is our Lord really came to do.
And as we'll read about in the discourse on the bread and life, they were very eager to receive
this human bread that would take their hunger pains away. But when he began to speak about the
Eucharist, that was a whole different story. It was a whole different story. It was a whole different
story. It was a whole different story. It was a whole different story. It was a whole different story.
It was a whole different story. Completely different. Suddenly, they were no longer as
interested. They found his words difficult and hard to take. And it was as though he had never
worked the miracle. And we see this over and over again in the scriptures where our Lord would work
even in the Old Testament where our Lord would deliver his people from bondage and slavery or
deliver them from their enemies. And no sooner had they been freed and seen the power of God,
you know, these stupendous miracles, God bringing water out of a rock and the rock followed them
through the desert, feeding them with bread from heaven and then quails when they asked for quails,
flock of quails would fly into their camp out of nowhere. Over and over he worked these
stupendous miracles and then they'd fall away. They'd turn aside. And it's real. And it's,
and this is what happens here in today's gospel. And it's also what very often happens,
uh, with us. We see the power of God. We see his miracles worked in our life.
Uh, we find ourselves lifted up by his providence. And then when it seems as though he's not doing
what we want, what we desire, uh, we, we act as though, uh, he's not around. He doesn't care. He
doesn't hear our prayers. He doesn't, uh, answer us in, in, in our need. But the whole point of our
Lord working the miracle is that he's not doing what we want. He's not doing what we want. He's not
doing what we want. He's not doing what we want. He's not doing what we want. He's not doing
this miracles, but then leaving his people in a sort of, um, position where they would still
have to make an act of faith, uh, is, is precisely what our Lord requires of us. He gives us reasons
to believe. He gives us signs of his presence. He gives us the truth. And, and yet he's, he's not
going to make, he's not going to make it entirely easy. Life is a challenge. God deserves all of our
love. And, and, but he doesn't care. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. He doesn't
he has a right to put us to the test.
We ask not to be put to the test,
but our Lord has a right to see
how much we will love him.
And in the spiritual life,
the goal really
is to love God with his own
love, is to
see what he has done for
us and try
to return it.
St. John of the Cross and
St. Therese following
him say that
love is returned
by love alone.
It's the only thing that
is really worthy of God.
And the language of love
is sacrifice.
The language of love
is
remaining faithful
in the lurch
in difficult times.
You know, believing
in the presence of God when we don't
feel the presence of God.
Believing in his power to lift
us up when we would rather
be angry or disappointed
or pout, you know,
or be a
spoiled brat.
Those are the times in which
God is giving
us the opportunity
to do something beautiful
for him. It's like when our Lord
finally, you know,
granted St.
Thomas what he wanted. St. Thomas
was obstinate, you know, in his refusal
to believe in the resurrection.
I will not believe unless I
put my fingers in the
nail marks in his hands and my
hand into his side. So our Lord
says, come here.
Put your hand in my side. Put your
fingers in the nail marks in my wounds.
And yet the blessing
of our Lord goes on those who
believe without seeing.
Who believe without seeing.
And that challenge
is in all
of our lives. We find that challenge
in each and every one of our lives.
We are challenged
to believe in God's providence.
We are challenged
to accept his holy will
even though we don't
see the ultimate outcome.
We expect, like the Jews did in the Old Testament,
that if we follow God,
everything is going to work out the way we want it to.
That if
we're faithful, you know,
that we will get what we want. And that was
a big error. People that were
rich, had many children,
were considered blessed by God.
And those who were
barren, who were poor, who had
leprosy, were blind,
crippled, all that, they were cursed by
God. That was, you know, an Old
Testament heresy, which
our Lord blew out of the
water. This is one of the reasons why
his people found him to be a scandal.
St. Paul says, you know,
that
the cross is a scandal
to the Jews, a stumbling block
to the Jews, because they had this
false notion that if the Messiah
were to come, you know,
he is going to be
totally victorious in the way that we
think he's going to be victorious.
And he's going to deliver us from every
suffering and trial.
But the Messiah, when he came
into the world, was
the Anoim, was the
suffering servant.
And he ultimately
was murdered by
the very people that were
expecting him to deliver him.
And by the oppressors.
The Romans.
And so that was, you know, just a total
contradiction, an upturning
of their way of looking
at things.
And we, who are followers of
Christ, have to reject
this heresy.
And we do, in principle.
But in practice, that's the
problem. That's
the real problem. In practice,
when we come up against
the cross, we
you know, are angry with God
or angry with our brothers and
sisters or disappointed,
discouraged. Perhaps sometimes
we stop praying. Perhaps
we, you know, ask,
why me? You know,
the only one who really has a right to say, why me
is our Lord and our Blessed Mother.
Why them? They didn't do anything.
The rest of us, you know,
deserve
to suffer.
And yet God doesn't want us to
suffer in despair.
Or futilely.
Or without hope.
Our Lord himself has taken upon
his own humanity
the burden of our sins.
Although he didn't have to.
He was totally gratuitous.
He didn't deserve to suffer.
But he has
borne our burdens.
He has borne our sins. He has taken
our sins to the cross. And he has
lifted them up.
And because of that, he has really given
us the power,
to accept the cross.
That is the power of God.
We want to know the power of God.
The real miracle of grace.
It's to accept the cross.
It's to find in
our union with the Lord, through the
sacraments, through prayer,
through divine providence, to find his
grace in the midst of that
difficulty. If we read
the lives of the saints, we know
that they understood
the language of love.
They embraced the language of love.
They found happiness.
They found happiness.
They found happiness.
They found happiness.
They found happiness in the midst of their
difficulties and trials and sorrows.
St.
Vincent de Paul
used to say that if things were always
going well, or even if they started going well
for a short amount of time, he used to get
worried. He used to
believe that God no longer was
blessing him. And then if something
went awry
and caused
him disturbance, he would go into the chapel
and he wouldn't leave until his peace had
returned. Now, we can't always do that.
But he had discovered
something precious that he wasn't going to let
go. He had understood
that the providence of God
is found in trial.
And through his
willingness to follow our Lord
on the path and his
perseverance, he was able
to find joy there.
So that when things did go wrong,
when things did cause him trial
and difficulty, he was able
to go before the blessed sacrament
and find his peace.
Now, again, we may not
be there right now. It may be
more difficult for us to find
our peace. We shouldn't be discouraged
if we don't.
But we should stay
on the path.
That's the path that our Lord wants
each and every one of us on.
And he will reward us for that.
He will bless us for
remaining on that path.
And
in
especially
here today, on Sunday,
the first day of the week, as we celebrate
the Holy Sacrifice, the Mass,
of course, that's what we're supposed to do.
The path leads here, ultimately,
where we
lift up our hearts to the Lord
and lift them up
with everything that goes along with
our life. Everything that
causes us joy, everything that
causes us sorrow, everything that we want to have,
and especially the things that we
would rather be rid of.
You know,
we have them, we bring them to the Lord,
and they are precious in his sight
because of his
saving love, his
sacrificial love, and his
redemptive suffering that he has offered
to the Father on the cross.
So the power of God is made
manifest in
his providence. And
sometimes, because we are weak,
he manifests that power in
extraordinary ways, as he did
in today's Gospel. But more
often than not, he manifests
that power in ways
that nobody notices. Sometimes,
you know, we barely
notice it.
But we need to be more
perceptive. We need to
recognize the power and
providence of God
in the cross.
We need to know that
he feeds us with a
more substantial,
what St. Thomas would call
super substantial bread,
which is not the bread of this world,
but
the bread of God.
And that's what we need to do.
And that's what we need to do.
And that's what we need to do.
And that's what we need to do.
And that's what we need to do.
Which is his own life
in the Eucharist
and in the grace that he gives us
to carry our cross.
So, today as we receive
Holy Communion, we can ask
for that grace. We can ask for the
grace to have true joy,
a true appreciation
for the providence of God
and not fall into that heresy
thinking that, you know, if God
is good to us and if we're doing
the right thing, everything is going to
work out the way we expect it to.
It's not that way.
It's not that way at all.
The providence of God is his blessing,
but he has a higher ideal,
a higher vision of things.
And it's we that need to conform
our vision to his, not his to ours.
That's the struggle,
but that's also the blessing.
And it's the freedom of the children of God.
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