The Gospel according to John 6: 1-15

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today Jesus challenges us to understand the value of his gift in the Eucharist.

The multiplication of the loaves and fishes, whereby the crowd was fed, and the careful gathering up of the scraps is one of a number of signs given us by Saint John to recall the lordship of Jesus Christ over matter, space, time, nature, suffering, life and death.

Typical to the story is Jesus’ pity for the hunger of the crowd. He is concerned to accommodate them after the long day of listening to him. The language that Saint John uses of Jesus taking, giving thanks and giving to others is a reminder of the power of the Eucharist.

Pope John Paul II wrote to the whole Church on Holy Thursday the Encyclical Letter, ‘Ecclesia Dei Eucharistia’, to emphasise for us that in the Eucharist Jesus himself is the Bread of Life and the Eucharist is our daily nourishment, so that we, united with Christ, will undertake our responsibility of feeding others. Pope John Paul reminds us that the Eucharist is a gift of Christ himself in his humanity for saving work.

“The Eucharist is so decisive for the salvation of people that Jesus offered it and returned to the Father only after he had left us a means of sharing in it as if we had been present there at the Last Supper. Each member of the faithful can take part in it and gain its fruits. This is the faith from which generations of Christians down the ages have lived.”

Twenty five years into his Pontificate, the Holy Father has wanted us to see the Eucharist is central as a mystery which leads us ever deeper into knowing him. He states the well tried truth that the Eucharist is a true banquet in which he offers himself as our nourishment (No. 17) and the Pope insists that it is unworthy of a Christian community to share in the Lord’s Supper amid division and indifference towards the poor.

Every time we see Jesus feeding the five thousand we are challenged by the Eucharist towards the responsibilities which it imposes upon us. In the words of Saint John Chrysostom, “Do you wish to honour the Body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. Do not pay him homage in the temple clad in silk, only then to neglect him outside when he is cold and ill clad. He who said, ‘This is my Body’, is the same who said, ‘You saw me hungry and you gave me no food.’ And ‘Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did also to me.’

What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded when your brother is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well.” (Saint John Chrysostom, Homily on Saint John’s Gospel)

The Holy Father says that the meaning of our proclaiming the Lord until he comes entails that all of us who take part in the Eucharist be committed to changing our lives and making them in a certain way completely Eucharistic. It is this fruit of our transfigured existence, which commits us to transforming the world in accordance with the Gospel, which shows that the Eucharist in the Christian life looks forward to the moment when our union with Christ will be perfect.

In the Prayer after Communion we pray that this gift bring us closer to our eternal salvation and the Refrain to the Psalm, “The hand of the Lord feeds us. He answers all our needs”, reminds us of the constant thanksgiving we need to make for the wonderful inventive way in which the Lord has shown that he is near in order that we might be his instruments in meeting the cares and needs of others.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.

Source: Archbishop's Homily: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time