Homily
Seventeen Sunday of Year B: Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
- 2 kings 4:42-44;
- Ps 145:1-11, 15-18;
- Eph 4:1-6
- John 6:1-15
Sharing God’s Infinite Love
Scripture
readings today challenge us to constantly rely on God’s infinite mercy and
love. He feeds us and provides for our needs, meant to be shared with others.
In
the first reading, 2 Kings 4:42-44, a nameless man from Baal-shalishah brought twenty barley loaves made from first
fruits, and fresh fruits from the ear, to Elisha for the feeding of a hundred people
with plenty of left overs. A parallel story is found in the miracle of the
feeding of the 5,000 with only five barley loves and two fish brought by a boy,
in today’s Gospel, John 6:1-15. Isn’t this feedings and meals' stories a foretaste or a foreshadow of the
Eucharist we celebrate and share?
In
these stories we learn of God’s unlimited love for us, in all our needs:
physical, material, spiritual, social, religious, political and psychological.
In these stories God multiplies our blessings for us, the poor, the needy, the
orphans, the homeless, even though we are a multiplicity of people, from all
walks of life, from different families, homes, ethnicities and nations. God’s
love has no boundaries!
One
thing that also strikes me in this story of God’s boundary-less love is
the significant of the fact that it was a nameless man from a place called
Baal-shalishah who brought food and his first grains used by Elisha, the
prophets to feed hundreds of people.
Similarly
in the Gospel it was a nameless boy who bore 5 loaves and 2 fish blessed and
multiplied by Jesus for the feeding of the crowd of 5,000 people. I am sure
there are many of us in the pews that God has used silently to help other
people; to feed many people. Some of you are in the Knights. Some of you are members of the Catholic
daughters. Some of you are in the Pastoral Council, the Youths and other committees. Some of you are volunteers in our various parish projects and missions. Some of you sing in the choir. Some of you never miss daily morning
masses. Some of you are Lectors, ushers, and altar servers. Some of you support
your priests, your neighbors and pray for them. Some of you bring a lot supplies
for the food pantry to feed the poor and the homeless. You contributes towards charity in the Church. Your names may not have
been written on daily newspapers, or broadcasted on the CNN, Fox News, and
MSNBC and Cable Media. God loves and knows you. He will provide for you for
your generosity. You are the one Pope Francis would called “saints-next door”,
“saints on the pews.” So God can use any of us for the good of the community,
no matter the challenges that come with it.
Saint
Paul, of today’s Second reading, who rightly calls himself a prisoner of the Lord,
was also aware of God’s infinite love for the Ephesians. He was aware that God can
also use them, each of them, their gifts for the good of the community. The
more reasons, he urges them, “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.” In Ephesian 4:1-6 Paul stresses one faith, one hope, one love
that we all share in God, in Christ, who has first loved and fed us!
So
let us pray at this Mass that we may continue to trust in God’s infinite love,
who feeds us. And that we who have been fed by the Lord may reach out, or be
instruments of blessings to our next door neighbors, especially the poor, the
less privilege who may be in need of food or payers, or visits, or a telephone
call, sharing with them God’s infinite love!
Reflection
Questions:
- Are there times in our lives we feel God has not provided enough for our needs, when and why?
- How often do we see ourselves as instruments of God’s blessings to others?
- How often do we assist members of our faith communities, especially the poor, to realize that God constantly care for them?
