A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (#29)
Body and Blood of Christ, Year C – June 13, 2004
“They All Ate And Were Satisfied”
BIBLE READINGS
Gen 14:18-20 // I Cor 11:23-26 // Lk 9:11b-17
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
Our religious community in Antipolo, in the Philippines, wanted to make the celebration of Corpus Christi during the Great Jubilee 2000 more meaningful. We invited our neighbors to join us for the Eucharistic adoration and procession in the afternoon of the feast of Corpus Christi, in the year 2000, especially declared a Eucharistic Year. Many children from our low-income neighborhood attended the ceremony. Unfortunately, it rained and we were forced to improvise a short route for the Eucharistic procession within the convent. We served a simple but nourishing meal after the prayer service. The rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd as they partook of the abundant servings of “pancit”, a tasty noodle dish garnished with chicken and stir-fry vegetables. We also prepared delicious rice cakes and flavorful fruit juice for them. There was great delight etched on their faces as they shared our meal. A scriptural quotation from today’s Gospel reading may be used to describe aptly that heart-warming scene: “They all ate and were satisfied” (Lk 9:17a).
The Gospel proclamation of this Sunday’s Corpus Christi celebration (Lk 9:11b-17) presents Jesus as the gracious host of a miraculous, bountiful meal. Today’s beautiful story of the multiplication of the loaves and the feeding of the multitudes is preceded by Luke’s description of the return of the apostles who gave Jesus an account of all they had done. According to the evangelist’s account, Jesus then took the apostles with him and withdrew to a town called Bethsaida where they could be by themselves. But the crowds got to know about his plan and pursued him. Instead of resenting the infringement on his privacy and the obstruction of his plan to give a well-deserved rest to his apostles, Jesus actively welcomed the eager crowds and talked to them about the kingdom of God. He also cured those in need of healing. At the end of the day, the Twelve approached Jesus and requested him to dismiss the crowds so that the latter could go to surrounding villages and farms to find lodging and provisions. Jesus did not accede to his apostles’ legitimate demands, but rather, challenged them to do something for the hungry and needy throng. He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves” (Lk 9:13) for they have a vital part to play in relieving the needs of his most special and welcomed guests. The disciples acknowledged that they have food: five loaves of bread and two fish, but they seemed enormously inadequate to feed the massive crowd. Jesus ordered the disciples to have his dear guests seated for the outdoor banquet in groups of about fifty. What followed in Luke’s narration is the miraculous act of Jesus, the gracious Lord of the banquet: “Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, Jesus 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” (Lk 9:16-17).
According to Harold Buetow: “The miracle shows also the abundance of God’s love for individuals: each person ate, everybody had more than enough, and there was a lot of food left over. Scripture associated this abundance with the Messiah. God had given this same abundance in the manna, which he had freely provided the hungry Hebrews as they wandered through the vast and trackless desert in their exodus from Egypt. God offers the same abundance of results today to all who use the Eucharist properly. The Eucharist, the most exalted of all the sacraments, is essentially a meal, like the one that Jesus shared with the people in the meadows.” Indeed, the multiplication of the loaves and the feeding of the crowd with abundant food indicate that the messianic times have come. This miraculous event wrought by the messianic Jesus in the green meadows for the hungry crowd that flocked to his care introduces us to the mystery of the Eucharist, which fulfills our spiritual hungers abundantly.
The outdoor feast that Jesus served with the help of his disciples prefigures the abundant nourishment that the community of believers receive from the celebration of the Eucharist. According to Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter, Ecclesia De Eucharistia, n.16: “The Eucharist is a true banquet, in which Christ offers himself as our nourishment.” The Christian believers are nourished by the bread of the Word and by the Eucharistic bread of Christ’s body, broken for the salvation of the world, and the Eucharistic wine of his sacred blood, poured out to seal our covenantal relationship with God as his own people. The ultimate and astoundingly generous Lord of the banquet, Jesus Christ, nourishes us with the bread of the living Word and with his own body and blood through the Eucharistic bread and wine.
With regards to the bread of the Word, St. Ambrose has this to say: “This bread that Jesus breaks is, as far as the mystery is concerned, the word of God and the discourse about Christ: distributed, it increases; for, with a few discourses, he supplied all the peoples with an overabundant nourishment; he gave us discourses like bread, and, as we taste it, it multiplies in our mouths. Similarly, in a visible and incredible way, this bread, when broken, when distributed, when eaten, heaps up without undergoing any diminishment.” With regards to the Eucharistic species, St. Cyril of Jerusalem exhorts us: “Do not see in the bread and wine merely natural elements, because the Lord has expressly said that they are his body and blood. Faith assures you of this, though your senses suggest otherwise.”
When we receive with faith and love the food offered us by the gracious host, Jesus Christ, we shall never be hungry again for the food that we receive is Jesus himself, the bread of life. At the Eucharistic feast, Jesus fulfills the beatitude: “Blessed are you who a now hungry, for you will be satisfied” (Lk 6:21) and realizes Mary’s proclamation: “He has filled the hungry with good things” (Lk 2:53). Without the Eucharist, our yearning for peace, justice and love will never be satisfied. As Christian disciples, we are called to share with the hungry world the bread of the living Word and the Eucharistic bread of his body and the Eucharistic wine of his blood. As we try to assuage the world’s spiritual hungers, let us remember with joy that delightful event on green meadows when Jesus served the messianic banquet with the help of his disciples: “They all ate and were satisfied” (Lk 9:17).
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. Are we ready to incarnate in our lives the compassionate and generous spirit of Jesus who welcomed the crowds who sought him and hosted a messianic banquet for them?
B. In our apostolic ministry, are we ready to offer our “five loaves and two fish”, that is, all that we have, for our pastoral ministry with Jesus? Does the enormity of the world’s hungers daunt us; if so, do we turn to Jesus that he may miraculously multiply the little that we have?
C. Are we thankful to God that he nourishes us at the table of the bread of the Word and at the altar table of his Eucharistic sacrifice?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Lord Jesus, Lord of the banquet, we come into your presence today with our deepest hungers for things beyond food: for forgiveness, for reconciliation, for kindness, for restoration in relationships, for justice and freedom, for joy in place of bitterness and cynicism, for peace and unity, for spiritual and physical healing.
Assembly: Help us to eat at your table and be satisfied. As we partake at your Eucharistic banquet, may we be transformed into your own presence, as bread broken for the life of the world.
Leader: Nourished at the table of your living Word and the altar table of your Eucharistic sacrifice, may we have the grace to be personally involved in alleviating the hunger pangs of the people of the world. We love you and serve you forever and ever.
Assembly: Amen
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“They all ate and were satisfied.” (Lk 9:17a)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: As a special homage to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic Mystery, spend some quiet time of prayer and meditation before the Blessed Sacrament. If the opportunity occurs, join a Eucharistic procession as a public manifestation of your faith in Jesus, present in the most holy Eucharist.
B. ACTION PLAN: Feed the hungry and share your resources with the needy.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US