June 19th 2022.  Feast of Corpus Christi
GOSPEL   Luke 9:11B-17
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   Luke 9:11B-17
Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,
and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close,
the Twelve approached him and said,
"Dismiss the crowd
so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms
and find lodging and provisions;
for we are in a deserted place here."
He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves."
They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have,
unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people."
Now the men there numbered about five thousand.
Then he said to his disciples,
"Have them sit down in groups of about fifty."
They did so and made them all sit down.
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And when the leftover fragments were picked up,
they filled twelve wicker baskets.
THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
 

SUMMARY

The feast of Corpus Christi is an opportunity to discover that the love of God for us is not something abstract, but something tangible. Jesus asks the disciples what to do regarding the hunger of the people, and they give the blandest of replies – “Send them away!” Jesus asks us to assist him in helping to satisfy the hunger of others, but the funny thing is that we then discover that we too are filled when we move to help others. It is when we take the little we have and give  it over to God, that a great abundance results, for us and for others. Jesus then looks to heaven and blesses the bread. We too must look to our relationship with the Father as the source of everything we do. If we try to rely on ourselves, then the results will be mediocre. But if we turn to the Lord in our times of trouble, then a moment of oppression becomes an oasis in which we meet the Lord and he can transform our desert into abundant fruit for ourselves and others.

1. God’s relationship with us is not something abstract but rather very tangible

The feast of the Lord's Body and Blood celebrates our relationship with God, which is not made up of abstractions, but of concrete realities, such as the food that nourishes us. This Sunday's Gospel reading starts with Christ’s announcement of the Kingdom of God and his healing of the crowd. What follows afterwards will serve to manifest tangibly what He has preached and done.

2. It is in satisfying the needs of others that our own hunger is satisfied.

We are at the end of the day, the evening is approaching and a need is looming: these people, who have listened all day, will have to eat something . . . In every relationship, sooner or later, comes the time when the needs of the other person emerge. What ought I do at this point? We have a tendency to shy away from this kind of situation. In fact, the attitude of the disciples is exactly that: "Let the crowd go to the villages of the surrounding area to find food and a place to stay".  Jesus' strategy is totally different. He, moreover, does not solve the problem alone, but involves his reluctant disciples in the effective solution. He needs their input of loaves to solve this crisis. What a curious thing! We are hungry ourselves but instead He calls us to satisfy the hunger of others. And it is precisely in satisfying the needs of others that our own hunger is truly satiated. We think: "If I had enough, I would give to others as well, but not having enough, I certainly cannot deal with their problems . . ." – it seems obvious, but things with God do not work like this! With Jesus it is not a matter of having enough, but it is rather a matter, little or much, to give him whatever I do or have. He will be able to multiply that "little", but he needs to start from being able to dispose of it.

3. When we are confronted by problems, the key is not to rely on our own solutions but to rely steadfastly on God

Man, under pressure from various issues, uses his intelligence and his skills to devise solutions. However, experience shows that sometimes solutions are worse than the problems. If, in fact, anxiety is the driving force of our lives, we will end up in self-destruction or mediocrity. The solution proposed by the disciples, in fact, is characterised by mediocrity. The crucial step – here as in any other situation – is not to have great resources at your finger tips to solve problems; no, what matters is that we make the leap beyond ourselves and enter into a relationship with God. How often it happens that the last thing we think about is that it is all a matter of handing over to God what little we have!

4. Times of stress become an opportunity for growth if we find God in them and turn to him. Our problems then become oases where we find the Lord

For us Christians, every problem is played out on the level of the relationship with the Father. There we discover continually that times of stress or oppression are an opportunity for growth. They are a place where we have the possibility of entering into a relationship with His providence. The hunger of the crowd is a chance for the disciples to experience the Kingdom of God, which Jesus spoke of all day. The power of God does not eliminate our fragility, but it makes our precariousness the place where we find peace in him. Jesus himself raises his eyes to heaven before blessing the bread and distributing it to the disciples. He too, in order to solve the problem of hunger in the masses, takes this step of passage through Heaven; he relies on his relationship with the Father; then comes abundance.

 

5. Our problems are an opportunity to hand things over to God. He brings abundance when we give him the little that we own.

This Gospel is a manual which tells us how to behave when we are confronted with that which overwhelms us. What should we do? Take what little we have and give it to the Lord! He knows how to multiply it! Many saints have had this experience. By handing what they possess over to the Lord, they have been able to give consolation in a manner that would never have been possible with their own limited resources. This is the story of the Christian life. The Lord takes our few loaves, blesses them, breaks and gives them. A curious thing is that it is when Christ breaks the bread that it is multiplied. He is a creator who brings abundance out of nothing. The problems and limitations that we experience are an opportunity to entrust ourselves to the power of God.