The liturgy of the 18th Sunday (OT, A) gives us a picture of Jesus continuing his life-giving ministry with the help of his disciples. The narrative is about a social miracle -- the feeding of the five thousand -- in which Jesus commands his disciples to feed the multitudes. Read the relevant article here and use the following as your guide. (For those who lead Bible sharing sessions, read this page.)
1. Sadness over the death of John the Baptist does not prevent Jesus from continuing with his healing ministry. His sadness does not prevent him from feeling compassion for the crowd and feeding them.
Reflect. In your own experience of the ministry, have you experienced a setback that made you feel like giving up?
If you have a journal: Try to remember the saddest moment of your life. Describe that moment: did it make you feel like closing yourself to others?
2. In Matthew 9:36, Jesus had compassion on the crowds because "they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd". They were harassed by all kinds of sickness and so Jesus cures them. But they were also like sheep who needed to be brought to pasture. And so he took the bread, said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples.
Reflect: In the Eucharist the Lord brings his sheep to pasture. He feeds them the bread that gives eternal life (see John 6: 33.35). In Matthew's account, the disciples are sharer's in Jesus' work of feeding the flock. How do you as disciple help the Lord today in feeding the multitudes?
For your prayer: "they ate and all were satisfied" (Matthew 14:20) The food that the Lord satisfies human hunger for life. Use the phrase in your meditation and allow it to tell you something about the Eucharist and your work as a baptized Christian to help your brothers and sisters experience it as the food given by the Good Shepherd.
3. Jesus commands his disciples to feed the crowds. He makes them his partners in the task of giving life to the world.
Reflect. What is true before Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension is truer now after his glorification. He has become the Head of His Body which is the Church. Today, he continues to inviite the world to himself (see Isaiah 55:1-2 as used in the liturgy) through the Church. The Eucharistic liturgy is our proclamation to the world that here Life is found and man's hunger is fulfilled. How do you make this a concrete and tangible invitation to the people of your own neighborhood? Who are the one's who make their silent cry for life in your neighborhood? How would you make them see that the Lord invites them to Himself as the answer to their craving?
