YEAR OF MISSION SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

This Sunday’s Gospel of the feeding of the crowd begins a sequence of readings that could allow us to reflect upon the Eucharist and that’s not a bad thing as we prepare for the Eucharistic Congress this coming September. There’s much that we could focus on in this familiar narrative from St Mark. But look at what Jesus uses: he takes what is offered to him and he transforms the little that is given into something that is enough for the crowd to have plenty. The Lord takes the little we give him, the simple things we offer him the – sometimes – meagre things we let him have and he uses them. Look at what we offer the Lord at Mass: simple bread and simple wine – symbols of sustenance and joy – and he gives them back to us changed and transformed into his very self. That’s all we need! We are given him as our food and our sustenance so that we are strengthened to become more like him in the lives we lead. May we come to know Christ truly present among us. May our eyes recognise him in his greatest Gift so that we might come to recognise him in others.