HE SAID THIS TO TEST HIM…

2 Kings 4:42-44

42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, “Give to the men, that they may eat.”
43 But his servant said, “How am I to set this before a hundred men?” So he repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.'”
44 So he set it before them. And they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.

Ephesians 4:1-6

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.

John 6:1-15

1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberi-as. 2 And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased.
3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples.
4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten.14 When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.  

MEDITATION

THE FIRST READING points to the feast of Shavout that require each family who have the means to present and offer a portion of their first fruits in the form of produce or bread at the temple. In addition to offering first fruits a liturgical text that calls to mind the escape from Egypt, is offered and prayed by the giver. We note Elisha’s strong faith when he dogmatically insist that the servant do not question the quantity or the supposed lack of sufficiency of the bread, but that he issue it to the hundred men, so much so that there was leftover bread after every soldier was fed.

St PAULS EPISTLE written from prison seeks to promote and restate the need that the Ephesus community remain united in their faith. The substance of the letter emphasize the doctrinal and sacramental unity of the universal Church that expound it’s oneness in matters of faith, practice, doctrine, Sacraments and it’s mode of worship!

 
THE GOSPEL READING: When Philip encountered Christ he was convinced that he was right on the money, so much so that he recruited a fellow sceptical Galilean (Jn 1:46) to also meet the Messiah. Philips monetary calculative response when ‘tested’ by Christ as to how it may be possible to obtain bread for the multitude must have reminded him of a first century rebel Bar Kokhba, a sham Messianic pretender who even struck his own coinage! Philip was under the wrong impression that Christ was going to provide money to procure bread. An unknown young ‘lad’ of great faith who overheard the question of Jesus,  sacrificed and unselfishly offered his meal for the journey to the Messiah.

On a daily basis we are exposed to poverty stricken individuals and communities that trumpet the hopelessness, hunger and desperation of so many people. Sadly, we are so focused on our personal happiness that we don’t have the time of day nevermind a heart of charity, love and concern to make a small offering of time or resources to alleviate the plight of those who are far worse off than us. Instead we do our silly calculations by counting our cost of living to justify our tightfisted stingy behavior! Christ did not promise to drop a bag of gold at our feet, instead He is watching and testing you and me to be other christs with open hearts and pockets so that He may multiply our sacrificial offering, however insignificant it may appear to be to feed the hungry by the thousands! Allow Him to even perform a multiplication miracle in our hearts and lives also when we receive His flesh and blood in the Sacrifice of the Mass! 

LET US PRAY: Psalms 145:10-11,15-18

10 All thy works shall give thanks to thee, O LORD, and all thy saints shall bless thee! 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and tell of thy power
15 The eyes of all look to thee, and thou givest them their food in due season.
16 Thou openest thy hand, thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
17 The LORD is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.18 The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.

Author. Henry R SYLVESTER Note: The daily scripture readings are taken from the Roman Missal which the Catholic Church use in the daily Celebration of the Holy Eucharist throughout the world.Some weekly readings may differ because of the celebration of local feast days