Cycle B - Year I:

25 July 2021: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading: 2 Kings 4:42-44

Second Reading: Ephesians 4:1-6

Gospel: Please Read John 6:1-15

"Our generous and merciful Lord!

In the second year of this pandemic, when more people are out of jobs and families are hungry, a young woman was inspired to help out by sharing what she has with those struggling with their daily needs and appealing to the generosity of others to do the same. Her initiative has since been called "community pantry" where the hungry are free to take as much food supplies as they need, and also encourages others to share whatever they could for the hungry. In time more community pantries blossomed throughout the country to help people most vulnerable by this pandemic.

For those less in life putting food on the table is their daily struggle, and it becomes worse during this pandemic. Satisfying our physical hunger for food is an important step to liberation from poverty.

The theme of this Sunday's liturgy is on nourishment. For man is both body and soul while in journey in this world. Jesus shows His concern for our temporal needs as well by feeding the multitude that followed Him.

The Gospel narrative tells us about a great multitude that followed our Lord Jesus to hear His preaching. At the end of the day there was a problem of how to feed them so the disciples wanted to send them away because they did not have the resources to feed the multitude.

Now Andrew, one of Jesus' disciples told Jesus that all they have is a boy who brought with him five loaves and two fish; but what good are they for so many?

Our Lord Jesus took the little they had --five loaves and two fish-- and giving thank to His heavenly Father, distributed to all until the whole crowd were satisfied of their hunger. And when they had their fill, there were still twelve wicker baskets full of loaves and fish left over.

What do we learn from this miracle of the loaves and fish?

The feeding of the five thousands shows us the remarkable and overflowing generosity of God and His great kindness to us. The miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish emanated from the mercy and love of our Lord Jesus Christ to the crowd that followed Him. Clearly, our Lord cares for the whole man, meaning body and soul, that He takes care of our physical needs as well, in this case, our hunger for food. This also tells us a lot about Christian charity, that we must share both our prayers and our material blessings.

Today's Gospel incident also reminds us that when God gives He gives abundantly. In other words, the Lord gives more than we need for ourselves so what we may have something to share with others, especially those who lack what they need to survive. So Jesus teaches us that material hunger can be answered by an attitude of sharing that invites divine intervention. Because God takes the little that we have and multiplies it for the good of others.

Our Lord Jesus always gifts us what we need. If we are open and trusting, He will grace and bless us with what we truly need, even though it may not be what we asked for.

Finally, the theme for today's liturgy connects us to the Church's celebration of Fil-Mission Sunday today. Let us be generous and merciful ourselves as we remember with our prayers our Filipino missionaries all over the world and share and support them with our material blessings.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!