August 2nd 2020. The Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
GOSPEL: Matthew 14, 13-21
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio
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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel
GOSPEL: Matthew 14, 13-21
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 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—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel story, Jesus looks on the hungry crowd and is stirred to compassion. When we look on the world, may we too not turn away from the stirrings of compassion within us! The disciples do not nurture feelings of compassion for the crowd because they believe that it is pointless. Their attitude is guided by what they see as being brute necessities: the scale of the problem (over five thousand people to be fed) and the poverty of the resources of food available (five loaves and two fish). But if we have faith in what the Lord can do, then what seems a brute necessity may not be a necessity at all! Our poor resources can be more than enough in the hands of the Lord. What is important is the way we relate to him in the midst of these situations, “necessities” and “insurmountable” problems. If we give ourselves to the Lord then he will work wonders with our offering, no matter how impoverished it may be.
Jesus looks on the world and is stirred to compassion. When we look on the world, may we too not turn away from the stirrings of compassion within us!
When Jesus heard of the death of John, he went away to a deserted place to be by himself. John had been killed barbarously during a grotesque feast, to satisfy the desires of a teenage dancer. The death of the prophet is a sure sign that the thing he prophesied about – the coming of the Messiah – is about to be fulfilled. The news of the Baptist's death made Jesus seek the solitude of a desert, but the poor and the infirm still seek him out and find him. The void created by the termination of the prophecy then becomes the space of compassion (“his heart was moved with pity for them . .”). This is more important than it may seem at first glance: if a prophecy does not lead to a manifestation of love, then what prophecy is it? It is empty. It is not inspired by the Holy Spirit. And how does true compassion manifest itself? "He saw a large crowd and felt compassion for them". Compassion starts from what we see. Do we change channels when we see images of pain, hunger and disease? Do we change the subject of conversation so as not to think too much about something that would undermine our habitual way of being? Instead, wouldn’t it be better if we held our gaze on those images, or continued the subject under discussion? If we do that, then we will discover that compassion is there waiting for us. It is ready to arise within us if we accept it and support it.
The disciples do not feel compassion for the crowd because they believe that it is pointless. Their decisions are guided by what they see as being brute necessities: the scale of the problem and the poverty of the resources of food available. But if we have faith in what the Lord can do, then what seems a brute necessity may not be a necessity at all! Our poor resources may be more than enough in the hands of the Lord.
In the disciples, no such compassion is stirred by their way of looking at the situation. They see other things: “The place is deserted and it is now late; dismiss the crowd to go to the villages to buy food." Compassion is fine, but it is useless in this situation because nothing can be done for these people. The disciples, in fact, demonstrate a Roman brand of rationality: Necessitas non habet legem, sed ipsa sibi facit legem (“Necessity is not subject to the law because it is a law in itself”). No decision is necessary because the only necessity is that the people go looking for food. The disciples use the imperative (“Dismiss the crowds . .”). They are not giving advice to Jesus but telling him his duty.
Give yourself to the Lord and he will work wonders with your offering, no matter how impoverished it may be.
Jesus says just the opposite: “They don't need to go”. Literally, it is not necessary! When we have compassion then what is “necessary” changes. At this point, Jesus expresses a completely different kind of imperative: "You yourselves feed them." There is a splendid ambiguity in this phrase that is lost in the translation we are currently using. It could be interpreted to mean: “Give yourselves as food to them”. In any case, Jesus is telling the disciples that they are the protagonists in this situation. The problem of feeding this crowd is theirs directly. In reply, they say, "Here we have nothing but five loaves and two fish!" But Jesus is not dissuaded by the poverty of what they have. “Bring them here”, he says. Is what we have to offer very little? It's not a problem. Let us bring to Jesus what little we have, and we will see what can be done when we are together with him. Compassion is not something whose efficacy is measured by the stock market. It is measured by God. He is not interested in the quantity of what we but in our relationship with him. Whoever opens himself to compassion gives Christ what he has. The Lord knows what to do with it.
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