Posted by The WORD in other words (2006) by Fr Emmanuel de Leon SVD – SVD Retreat House, Baguio City
Saturday 5th Week in Ordinary Time
“then taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them and gave them…”
These words easily remind us of the Holy Eucharist. The Gospel portrays to us the Eucharistic gesture of Jesus.
The gospel of Mark gives us two narrations of Jesus multiplying bread for the hungry crowd. In Mark 6:34, 5,000 men were fed and the beneficiaries were mostly Jews. In today’s Gospel, Gentiles had the favor. We recall in Mark 7:31, it was told that Jesus moved to the Gentile territory. Before the Gentiles, Jesus breaks bread as he does with the Jews. Until now Jesus breaks bread before us in the Eucharistic celebration. He is still the bread of life sustaining the community of the faithful in their struggles to carry out the Christian mission, specially in moments of sufferings and trials.
We need the Eucharist to carry out our daily duties faithfully. It was observed that the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to kneel during the Eucharistic Sacrifice each morning even though at times she looks haggard and tired. She was consistent in doing so, because, “…if I did not attend the Eucharistic Sacrifice each morning, I would never have the strength to go through the labor and toil of the day”, she said.
There is another important hint in today’s Gospel worth pointing out. The five loaves and two fish in the earlier account of the multiplication of loaves is replaced with seven loaves, the fish was mentioned later, just a mere footnote. Seven baskets of leftovers replaced the 12 baskets of the earlier story, suggesting that there were seven helpers assisting Jesus rather than the 12. This could be an allusion to the seven deacons of Acts 6:1-6, who were appointed “to serve tables” for the early Christian Jews and Gentiles alike. This brings out the social dimension of the Eucharist…reaching out to others in humble service.
After the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta has participated daily in the Holy Eucharist, though tired and exhausted, she spends the day among the poorest, carrying them at times in her arms to a place of rest. Today, there are thousands of hidden and unknown living saints the world over today, who carry out the same idealism by the work of their hands or by the life of prayers and sacrifices for others.
Are you one of them? The books of Sirach reminds us, “The bread of charity is life itself for the needy, he who withholds it is a man of blood” – Sirach 34:21
