In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Glory to God. One of the saints, many of the
saints, tell us that the church, the liturgy
in particular, raises us up to heaven, presents
us all to God. who is above all. When we hear
the words of the beginning of the liturgy, blessed
is the kingdom of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, to ages of
ages. This is Christ. You hear this. You see
this. The gospel book is raised. We sing amen.
This is Christ opening our spiritual eyes so
we can See the kingdom of heaven. Feel it. Be
satisfied. Be fed. Those who trust in the Lord
lack no good thing. There were 12 baskets left
over. It was abundance beyond abundance. And
when we hear the words, blessed is the kingdom,
we can say, this is what I choose for my life.
The church takes us and raises us up and presents
us to God himself, but is that what we feel?
Is that our experience? Does our soul have the
means of perception? Can we spiritually feel
that, spiritually understand that, sense that,
grasp that? Some days, maybe. Speaking for myself,
some days, maybe not. For whatever reason. But
it's God, be convinced, that gathers us together,
that assembles us. This is why we have to take
that beginning, blessed is the kingdom, where
we hear the words and Christ is opening the kingdom
to us. That's why we have to take it so seriously.
We want to hear that. We want to be there to
begin that together. St. Paul said in the epistle
we just heard, so that we are all perfectly united.
in one mind and in one judgment, meaning intention,
for us to praise God. Now, to be here today,
it may seem like we're doing all the work. We're
setting up, we're trimming the wicks, we're bringing
the candles out, we're putting out the candles,
we're going back and forth, we get here early,
we're cleaning up, we're singing, we're reading,
we're doing all kinds of things, but really,
it's not us that are doing the work. We are laboring
so we can be with the Lord, each one of us, in
our own way here. But it's Christ who is ministering
to us today in every liturgy. It is Jesus Christ
who is serving us. Maybe it will help us to understand
if we just look at Christ. where he was in this
gospel, doing what he always did. Feeding the
people, teaching the people. St. Matthew relates
to us in chapter 14 how Herod had killed John
the Baptist. And we remember, please remember,
we commemorate that beheading on August 29th,
which is a strict fast day, which totally makes
sense, doesn't it? John's disciples came and
took his body. and buried it. Then John's disciples,
says St. Matthew, went and told Jesus. When Jesus
had heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat,
privately, to a secret and solitary place. The
gospel doesn't get into psychology and emotion.
But you can imagine, this is the forerunner.
This is Jesus' cousin. He goes to pray. He goes
to be by himself. He goes because he is not only
God, but God made man. He goes, no doubt, to
also mourn his dear friend, but to also know
what his friend was about to do in the depths
of Hades, to even announce as the forerunner
the coming of the Messiah and the end of death,
the end of the destruction of sin. Jesus goes
to a solitary place. But hearing this, says St.
Matthew, the crowds followed him by foot. They
see Jesus in his boat going across the lake.
And many, many, many people. Well, we have the
fresco right here on the north side showing the
event of the gospel that we read about today,
which is recorded in all four gospels. The crowds
followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus
landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion
on them and healed their sick. Our Lord is the
compassionate one. He was with these people,
teaching all day, blessing them, healing them,
strengthening them. We're here at the liturgy.
For two hours, maybe, hour and a half. It's not
all day. It is the Lord's Day. And we keep that
in mind on Sunday, that we dedicate this day
to worship God, to pray to God, to do good works,
to do what we need to do, but to keep it focused
on Christ in whatever way we can. Many of us
struggle through the hour and a half that we
are here. To be united, as St. Paul says, with
one mind and one intention? Let us remember again,
we have been gathered together. Let's not do
anything to betray that. Let's be with Christ
while we're here at the liturgy. I'm not talking
to parents with young children, by the way. They
have their own path, and God has blessed them
abundantly, which in whatever way, they have
to work that out. But it's essential for us.
To take that gathering seriously and to remain
with Christ so we can be taught. We can be healed.
We can be fed. As evening approached, the disciples
came to Jesus and said, this is a deserted place.
It's remote. It's late. Send the people away,
Lord. Let them go to the villages. Find some
food to eat. And Jesus replied, they do not need
to go away. You give them something to eat. And
no doubt, this was yet another occasion for the
disciples to be confused. And our own relationship
with Christ is like that a lot, isn't it? So
we don't despair. The Lord finds the way through.
And what happens next is that Jesus shows that
he is what everyone is waiting for, the Messiah,
the prophet Ezekiel, in their minds. They know
the scriptures. The Lord says to Ezekiel, I will
set over them one shepherd, my servant David.
Christ is the child, the descendant of David.
And he will feed them. He will feed them, and
he will be their shepherd. And St. Matthew then
says that Jesus took what these disciples found.
A boy had five loaves, two fish. He gave thanks,
he broke, and he distributed. Exactly what we
are going to experience today. It's the Lord's
hands that will bless. that will offer us up
to the Lord, God, Father, Almighty. Send down
thy Holy Spirit, we say, upon us and upon these
gifts here present. And then we are changed also.
And he gave it to the disciples, and the disciples
gave them to the people. St. Hilary. He says
this, the wonder of the miracle of Jesus feeding
the 5 ,000 surpasses human understanding. Of
course it does. What is most amazing, however,
is what this miracle teaches us about compassion
and the grace of God in Christ. Never forget,
dear people, the Lord is compassionate. Never
think that because you sinned, Or you disappointed
yourself that God is angry with you and holding
you over the fire, ready to drop you. That is
not our God. That is not the God that Jesus Christ
himself shows us what his Father is like. No,
not at all. Jesus feeds us. He heals us. He teaches
us. He has compassion and mercy upon us. Since
Hillary goes on, he says, Just as the loaves
and fish never seem to end, so our Lord's mercy
more than covers our needs. More than covers
our needs. More than comforts us in distress.
And it is greater than our greatest tribulation.
St. Hilary goes on, our heart's desire, the needs
of our body and soul, our Lord, our Christ, meets
that. and then exceeds. And he goes on to say
that this miracle of the feeding of 5 ,000, not
counting women and children, you can calculate,
who knows, is the foreshadowing of the greatest
gift to us, that is the Eucharist, in which we
present to God five loaves too, and ourselves.
Lo, I am with you always, even to the end, says
Jesus. During the celebration of the liturgy,
Christ is with us differently than there and
with everyone celebrating the liturgy in every
place. And he still makes the paralyzed to walk
and the paralyzed to understand and the blind
to see and the blind to understand. He makes...
Why is the blind? We just sang it a few moments
ago. He returns the dead to life. When he nourished
the people there with his teaching, his food,
he does the same for us. This is not a memory
that we think about. It's Christ truly present
here with us, the teacher, the prophet, the miracle
worker, Christ who was crucified, Christ who
was raised from the dead, who was sent into heaven
and is now before us. And the goal of this...
The goal of this, the goal of being gathered
together, be united in one mind and one judgment,
one intention, is to be joined to God. So he
can make us to be each unique, each in our own
way, as he is. We don't know what that will be.
But when he comes, we shall be like him. says
St. John the theologian. We shall be as he is.
O Lord, grant us to partake more perfectly in
the never -ending day of thy kingdom, which we
share in this moment, where the sound is unceasing
of them that keep festival. and unending is the
delight of them that behold the ineffable beauty
of thy countenance. Amen.