Homily – April 24, 2009 – Second Week of Easter - Friday

Today we have the pre-death/resurrection accounting of the miraculous feeding of the 5000 from five barley loaves and two fish. If we look back at it from the post death/resurrection perspective we can see clearly that it had everything to do with the spiritual healing and nourishment that would come from Jesus' total gift of himself to his Father and to us at the Last Supper and on the Cross the next day. This gift, of course, is contained in the Eucharist, of which the bread and fish are the type.

In order for us, today, to be healed and fed spiritually - Jesus' instituted Eucharist to be made present and celebrated daily until the end of the world. How fortunate we are and how loved, to be so amazingly provided for!

But, in our alleluia verse we see that one does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Jesus himself on many occasions said that unless you put your private beliefs and spiritual experiences into action for the good of others then they are being misused. Everything that is given to us by God is given both for our own good and the good of others. This means that everything about the Church is not for private and selfish aggrandizement – but rather for the glory of God and the good of the whole Church and indeed the whole world!

In the first reading we find Gamaliel – a very respected teacher of the law (who was a teacher of Saul become St. Paul) – convincing the Sanhedrin to let the Apostles alone to preach and teach about Jesus, reasoning that if he were simply a self-styled upstart – when he left the scene, his followers would sooner or later disband; but if he was truly from God – as the Apostles were saying he was: then no power on earth could stop them from doing his work.

And so, the Christians were left alone – and they praised and worshiped God in their homes – and spoke about him courageously and boldly in the public square! May we in so many words proclaim the words and truth and life of Jesus every day by our deeds of good– because we belong to the same group of believers as them. We will thus be putting our belief into action and actually experiencing Christianity the way it is meant to be experienced!

One does NOT live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God: even the challenging and disquieting ones!