Friday April 29, 2022

 1. CATHERINE of Siena, Virgin and Doctor

What a rich personality, this valiant woman became a doctor of the Church.  A Dominican Tertiary, she was the leader in Siena of a kind of “charismatic movement” with an evangelical lifestyle. Though very pleasant and joyful, she was very sad to see the Church suffering because Pope Gregory XI with his cardinals had moved from Rome to Avignon, France, what eventually led to the so-called “Western schism,” that divided the Church for a long time with popes and antipopes.   She went to the Pope, scolded him “for his short-sightedness” and convinced him to return to Rome. She died at the age of 33. In her we have a person who was an ascetic, mystic, charismatic, stigmatic, doctor.

 

First Reading: Acts 5:34-42 

            They heard that, they were furious and wanted to kill them on the spot. But one of the council members stood up, a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of God’s Law who was honored by everyone. He ordered the men taken out of the room for a short time, then said, “Fellow Israelites, be careful what you do to these men. Not long ago Theudas made something of a splash, claiming to be somebody, and got about four hundred men to join him. He was killed, his followers dispersed, and nothing came of it. A little later, at the time of the census, Judas the Galilean appeared and acquired a following. He also fizzled out and the people following him were scattered to the four winds.

 “So I am telling you: Hands off these men! Let them alone. If this program or this work is merely human, it will fall apart, but if it is of God, there is nothing you can do about it—and you better not be found fighting against God!”

That convinced them. They called the apostles back in. After giving them a thorough whipping, they warned them not to speak in Jesus’ name and sent them off. The apostles went out of the High Council overjoyed because they had been given the honor of being dishonored on account of the Name. Every day they were in the Temple and homes, teaching and preaching Christ Jesus, not letting up for a minute.

 

Gospel: John 6:1-15 

After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (some call it Tiberias). A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick. When he got to the other side, he climbed a hill and sat down, surrounded by his disciples. It was nearly time for the Feast of Passover, kept annually by the Jews.

When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do.

 Philip answered, “Two hundred silver pieces wouldn’t be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece.”

One of the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.”

Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.

When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted.” They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves.

The people realized that God was at work among them in what Jesus had just done. They said, “This is the Prophet for sure, God’s Prophet right here in Galilee!” Jesus saw that in their enthusiasm, they were about to grab him and make him king, so he slipped off and went back up the mountain to be by himself.

 

Prayer

All-wise and powerful God,
let us, like St. Catherine of Siena,
draw fortitude and wisdom and zeal
from intense contact with you
through sober living, deep prayer
and contemplation of the cross.
Make us bold enough to face
even the mighty of this world and of the Church
with a humble courage that seeks nothing else
than the good of the People of God.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Give up selfishness to witness the miracle of feeding the multitude

John was not writing a chronicle of events that happened in the life of Jesus. Today’s passage begins by saying “Jesus went across the sea of Galilee. And a large crowd followed him.” There is no mention of any boat here. How would a large crowd go across the sea? That’s what happened in the Exodus: Moses led the large crowd to cross the sea without any boat. Like Moses, Jesus leads a large crowd to cross over the sea.

Jesus goes up the mountain and sits down with his disciples, just as Moses was on the mountain, and taught his people. During the Exodus Moses gave manna and, like him, Jesus feeds those who follow him.

In the book of Deuteronomy, 18:18 God speaks to Moses: “I shall raise up a prophet from their midst, one of their brothers, who will be like you. I will put my words in his mouth and he will tell them all that I command.” Towards the end of today’s passage we hear the crowd’s response to Jesus feeding of the 5000 with five loaves: “This is truly the prophet, the one who is to come into this world.”

John makes these references to present Jesus as the new Moses who begins a new exodus, a passage from slavery to freedom, from sinfulness to the holiness of God, from death to life.
The goal of the journey of Moses was the promised land of Canaan. Now Jesus leads his people to the true promised land, the Kingdom of God. Do not mistake this with an afterlife, but, it is about the here and now. The sign performed by Jesus indicates that in the Kingdom to which Jesus leads his people, everyone has sufficient resources, begins here and now.

John is the only evangelist who notes that the one who has made available the little food he had “was a child” and that his bread was made “of barley” (v. 9), the staple food of the poor. But in our understanding, children would be the first to consume their snacks! The symbolic value of the detail is obvious: in the gospel, the child is the model disciple: Those who want to enter the kingdom of heaven must be like little children (Mk 10:15).

Now the message is clearer: the poor child is the disciple, who is invited to make available all that they have for the benefit of their brethren. This is the key of the miracle! It is enough that people put aside their selfishness, overcoming the greed to possess, “which is the root of every evil” (1 Tim 6:10).

When we make available all that we have to our sisters and brothers without reservations, the miracle happens: all are fed to the full and even have leftovers.

 

Video available on Youtube: Give up selfishness to witness the miracle of feeding the multitude