St. Mary's Catholic Church of Tomahawk, WI

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We are in the eighteenth ordinary Sunday of year A. The first reading underscores God’s fidelity to the Davidic covenant. It tells us that God provides the basic necessities of life: food and water. It also indicates God’s providence in abundance, by the exhortation to drink the wine and milk freely given. The waters of Shiloah symbolize divine protection and life to those who listen to His word. Thus, those who heed God’s life-giving word will receive His providential care.

The second reading also emphasizes God’s provision of what we need “the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”. For this reason, Paul lists various sources of distress, noting that none of these things can separate us from God’s love. Not only do they fail to separate us, but God’s love conquers these things. When we unite our suffering with that of Christ, it can bring us closer to Christ, teaching us to love as He loved.

The gospel carries and continues the theme of God’s providential care. Jesus was moved with pity seeing the crowds following Him and He began to heal the sick. Being in a deserted place, finding no means of acquiring food or provisions for such a great crowd, our Lord performs the miraculous multiplication of loaves and fish, feeding the entire crowd, with twelve baskets of food left over. This miracle anticipates the miracle of the Eucharist. How do we share our love, food and faith with others in need?

Fr. Aloysius Royan Anthony