17th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Today’s Gospel is a wonderful affirmation that Jesus is indeed the prophet who has come into the world. The teaching tells us that with almost no resources, Jesus was resolved to feed the people. He did it miraculously and abundantly. And, in fact, the scraps were more than what he started with. Those who ate of the meal were so impressed they wanted to make Jesus their king.
Perhaps our 21st century lesson from this Gospel is that we can feed the world. Individually, we don’t have the resources but if we have the faith and the resolve to start somewhere, there is great hope.
The hunger statistics are staggering. No one really knows how many people are malnourished, but the most recent estimate says that 925 million people in this world are hungry. Nearly all of the undernourished are in developing countries. When six of us have food and one has none, how can we not follow Jesus’ lead and take action?
Deacon Dick Folger