The neighbors call them the Casserole Ladies when someone on the block passes away the Casserole Ladies get the word out and soon there’s a parade of women carrying covered dish dinners, pound cakes, hams, and other good food to the home of those who lost their loved one. A neighbor who was a recent recipient of their generosity said, “Their kindness is like an 8th Sacrament.”
Though not an official Sacrament, this tangible display of compassion is surely sacramental. We’ve seen it as well in our own parish when people gather together to volunteer their time in our Funeral Reception Committee offering the hospitality for the families who have lost their loved ones following the funeral liturgy. Once the Eucharist has been celebrated, the Bread blessed and broken, then people come back to the hall and share often tables laden with good food brought in by family members.
Today our Gospel shows us how the Christ who multiplied bread and fish on the hillside centuries ago continues to transform simple bread and wine into the very life of God as we celebrate Eucharist week after week. Those who gather around the table know that they have received compassion and care for people who are hurting. It turns the simple food into something sacred and sacramental in which God can become present again to the grieving family and friends. Afterwards the leftovers are gathered. They are the baskets full of the grace and consolation that bring these people together in the love of God.
We know that Eucharist is an act of giving and receiving. The miracle that Jesus performs in our Gospel today – a miracle that the early Church saw as a forerunner of the Eucharist – begins with collecting what people are willing to give. Jesus then takes these few pieces of bread and fish and gives them back to the givers. The story in the Gospel is about how God miraculously feeds the people in abundance in time of need. It all looks back to the miraculous feedings by God in Elisha, but it also looks forward. The early followers of Christ saw Eucharist overtones in this story. For as we heard, Jesus looked up to Heaven, blessed the bread and gave it to His disciples who in turn feed the crowds. These came to be known as Eucharistic gestures. It is the only miracle that appears in all four Gospel stories.
And as we hear, Jesus not only increases the food, but in the food transforms the givers into a community. A community of many different souls who become one in their need. One in the bread they share. One in the love of Christ who has brought them together. Christ empowers each one of us to perform our own miracles of creating community. When we give of our time and resources to take up the work of the Gospel: it is all part of those who volunteer to feed those who are mourning and care for the sick, to lift up the fallen and to bring compassion and healing to brokenhearted. In a nutshell it is to mirror for others that love of God that is very much in our midst and is made present in Eucharist especially.
Finally, since this Gospel has such Eucharistic overtones, I wish to share a reflection.
Once upon a time there was a young man who came to a priest. His desire was to make fun of the priests’ faith.
So he asked Father, “How can bread and wine turn into the Body and Blood of Christ?” The priest answered, “No problem, you yourself change food into your body and blood, so why can’t Christ do the same?”
The young man however did not give up, and so he asked another question, “How can the entire Body of Christ be inside such a small host?” The priest answered, “In the same way that the vast landscape before you can fit into your little eye.”
The young man still persisted. “How can the same Christ be present in all your Churches at the same time?” The priest then took a mirror; he let the young fellow look into it. Then the priest took the mirror and let it fall to the ground. As it broke into several pieces, he said to the skeptic young man, “There’s only one of you and yet you can find your face reflected in each piece of that broken mirror at the same time.”
Returning to my story on the Casserole Ladies, we know that in the coming weeks in parish halls across our country, people in mourning will gather together after having prayed their deceased loved ones to their final rest. They will share stories and a meal. Their presence to one another will be healing. And in some small way that day’s grief will be overcome. And once again Jesus will have shown us the way.
Amen. Amen. Msgr. Tom Adrians, Pastor Christ the King