Daily Readings July 29, 2012

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July 29, 2012

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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 110

Reading 1 2 Kgs 4:42-44

A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God,
twenty barley loaves made from the firstfruits,
and fresh grain in the ear.

A Jew came from a foreign land to give Elisha the sacrifice of first fruits due to God.

Exodus 22:29

King James Version (KJV)

²⁹ Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.

Elisha said, "Give it to the people to eat."

Elisha, is a Prophet of God who has received double portions of Elijah's power:

2 Kings 2:9

King James Version (KJV)

⁹ And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

He said to the man, "feed the people with it".

But his servant objected,
"How can I set this before a hundred people?"

Elisha lived amongst an army of prophets.  There were many of them.  And these are the people whom he told the man to feed with his first fruits.  But the man objected that he hadn't brought enough to feed all those people.

Elisha insisted, "Give it to the people to eat."
"For thus says the LORD,
'They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'"
And when they had eaten, there was some left over,
as the LORD had said.

But Elisha insisted and said, not only will there be enough, but some will be left over.  And so, if you read one more verse in this particular passage, it ends thus:

⁴⁴ So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord.


That, of course, sets up today's Gospel, beautifully.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18

Response. (cf. 16) The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.

R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due season;
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.

R. The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

The Psalm is about giving thanks to God for providing us everything we need.  But indirectly, it is about the Eucharist.  Did you know that the word, "Eucharist" comes from the Greek word which means "Thanksgiving"?  Every time we celebrate Communion, we celebrate Thanksgiving.  And you thought it only came around in November.

Reading 2 Eph 4:1-6

Brothers and sisters:
I, a prisoner for the Lord,

St. Paul addresses the Christians of Ephesus.

urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:

He urges them to obey the Gospel and love one another.  To live according to the vocation they have received of the Lord,  Remember, Baptism is a vocation.  Being Christian is a vocation.  He is not simply speaking to the Priests.

one body and one Spirit,


When we are baptized, we become members of that one Body of Christ, by the Spirit of God


as you were also called to the one hope of your call;


And because we responded to that call, to that vocation of love, we live according to that hope which we have in God, that we will live with Him for eternity.  Scripture says elsewhere:

Romans 5:2

King James Version (KJV)

² By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.

Note the Trinitarian teaching here.  First, above he says we are united into the Body of Christ by the one Spirit of God.  Then he says, we have faith in the one Lord, who is Jesus Christ.  And who is One God, along with the Father, who is over all and in all.

Gospel Jn 6:1-15

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.
A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.

Crowds were following Jesus because they wanted to be healed.

Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there he sat down with his disciples.

Jesus went up on the mountain with His disciples.  I assume for some privacy away from the crowds.

The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes
and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,

But the Crowd found Jesus and followed Him up the mountain.

he said to Philip,
"Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?"
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.

Jesus tested Philip with a question.  "Where can we get enough food for this crowd to eat?"

Philip answered him,
"Two hundred days?' wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little.'"

Philip responded, "we don't have enough money to feed all of them even a little."

One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?"

One of the disciples, Peter's brother, Andrew, said that there was someone here with 5 loaves and two fish.  But he also said that it would never be enough for so many.

Jesus said, "Have the people recline."

Jesus said, "tell the people to get ready to eat."  In the days of Jesus, people did not have chairs as we do.  They reclined on the floor, even in their own homes.  Therefore, when He said, "have them recline", He meant, "have them prepare for their meal which is to come."

Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.
So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.

Notice that these are five thousand men.  But this does not include women and children who accompanied the men.  If we went to say, a Church gathering which included 5,000 men, how many people do you think that would be in total?  At least double that number, I suppose.  I would say that when the Scripture says 5,000 men, it means 5,000 families.

Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.

Then Jesus divided the loaves and the fish amongst all of these families.

When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
"Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted."
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves
that had been more than they could eat.

When everyone had eaten their fill, Jesus had all the fragments collected.  And there were twelve baskets full of leftovers.

When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
"This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."

When the people saw that Jesus had multiplied the loaves, they recognized that Jesus was the Messiah which was to come.

Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

And they would make Him King, but Jesus left them and went into the mountain alone.

Scripture says elsewhere:

John 2:23-25

King James Version (KJV)

²³ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
²⁴ But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
²⁵ And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.


Sincerely,


De Maria