MANNA: FOOD FROM HEAVEN

July 21, Wednesday

SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

      It is quite likely that the delicious manna was not as plentiful and frequent as the epic description of Exodus seems to imply. But the authors bring out its theological meaning. When food is scarce and always the same, when the Hebrews cry out for the false securities of Egypt, every day enough manna “rains from heaven” for the needs of the day. Thus the Hebrews experience that God cares and that they are in his hands. He sustains them on the arduous road to freedom. God gives them – and us – what we need every day. We are not to worry about tomorrow.

      Christ refers to the manna as a figure of the eucharist, which sustains us on the road of life and does not allow death.

God looks for good soil to sow his seeds of life. Do we have hearts of stone in which nothing grows? Or hearts, open to the good news, but so overgrown with weeds of constant worrying about the cares of life and things that do not matter that no time is left to cultivate the growth in us of God’s life and love? Let us ask in this eucharist that we may yield a rich harvest, like the prophet Jeremiah.

 

First Reading: Exodus 16:1-5,9-15

On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, the whole company of Israel moved on from Elim to the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai. The whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness. The Israelites said, “Why didn’t God let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You’ve brought us out into this wilderness to starve us to death, the whole company of Israel!”

God said to Moses, “I’m going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day’s ration. I’m going to test them to see if they’ll live according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration.”

Moses instructed Aaron: “Tell the whole company of Israel: ‘Come near to God. He’s heard your complaints.’”

When Aaron gave out the instructions to the whole company of Israel, they turned to face the wilderness. And there it was: the Glory of God visible in the Cloud.

God spoke to Moses, “I’ve listened to the complaints of the Israelites. Now tell them: ‘At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you’ll eat your fill of bread; and you’ll realize that I am God, your God.’”

That evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning there was a layer of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted, there on the wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the ground. The Israelites took one look and said to one another, man-hu (What is it?). They had no idea what it was.

 

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9

At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories.

“What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

 

Prayer

God of might and tender care,
in the gift of life,
in our daily food on the table,
in the fragile freedom we enjoy,
we recognize your provident hand.
Give us the wisdom and strength
not to seek a hollow security
of things that are only provisional,
but to move forward
in search of lasting values:
the freedom of the justice and love
of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

The life-giving Word

We are reading here from Matthew 13. The whole chapter consists of “parables of the Kingdom.” Pope Francis calls the Parable of the Sower as the ‘mother’ of all parables, because it speaks about listening to the Word. The Word of God is a seed which in itself is fruitful and effective; and God scatters it everywhere, not thinking about the chances of wasting the seeds. Such is the heart of God! Each one of us is a ground on which the seed of the Word falls; no one is excluded!

The sower is Jesus himself. He does not attempt to take us by force, but he casts his Word into our lives – by offering himself for us while leaving us free to choose. With patience and generosity, he brings us the Gospel – the Good News. This seed contains message of hope, message of compassion, message of mercy and forgiveness. That is why, if this seed is well received, it can bear marvellous fruits – fruits in abundance, just as the sower sow the seeds – in abundance.

God’s word is not just a spoken word. It is a doing word, a creating, life-giving word. It is like a life-bearing seed. And yet, as the Lord narrated in the parable, much of that Word fell on barren soil. Many refused to hear or to see – as it happened to Jesus himself. Even those closest disciples of Jesus did not provide a very promising soil in the beginning. Jesus’ life and mission seemed to end in tragic and dismal failure. There was not a single disciple in sight. His enemies laughed and mocked him. And yet… It was precisely at that moment of apparent failure, the seed “fell into the ground and died” (cf. John 12:24) and there the Word of God began to take root in the hearts people.

Jesus invites us today to look inside ourselves: to give thanks for our good soil and to tend the soil that is not yet good. He wants our hearts to be open to welcome the seed of the Word of God with faith. We need to check if our rocks of laziness are still numerous and large; to identify our thorns of vices and call them by name. The Gospel is a reminder for us to reclaim the soil, to effect a nice conversion of our hearts, bringing to the Lord in Confession and in prayer, our rocks and our thorns. In doing this, Jesus, the Good Sower will be glad to carry out an additional task: purify our hearts by removing the rocks and the thorns which choke his Word.

 

Video available on Youtube: The life-giving Word