18th Sunday OT A

Focus: Jesus desires to provide for us, especially in the Eucharist

Function: Come to what truly satisfies; always expect good things from God

Well, here we are. After going to school for 8 years, I finally have a captive audience.

I can’t tell you how amazing it was to be ordained and feel the grace of God.

But the truth is, no matter how much I might put on a show of competence, skill, and grace (which is what I’m doing, right?), I really don’t know what I’m doing.

Now I don’t mean to dismiss my schooling and the legitimate gifts that God has given me, but at the end of the day… I’m just as scared and in need as you.

Now what do I mean by that? I mean that I am a sinner, I don’t always have the answers to life’s questions, and I am always seeking for something that fulfils me and makes me happy, because I often don’t feel fulfilled – I am constantly longing for something else, something bigger. And I don’t always look for it in the right places.

And isn’t that the truth with all of us? We are all in need. Our lives are far from perfect, we sin, we have all been wounded.

Many of us deal with anxiety in the face of the world today, and we are thirsty for security.

We might have difficult or even painful relationships with family members, friends, or co-workers, and we are hungry for peace and love where we find it lacking.

We might be drowned in the plague of addiction, be it to alcohol, pornography, perfectionism, or even an addiction to social media or TV.

And finally, I think all of us, from time to time, feel that we are so, so poor, without anything, deeply unworthy of God… unworthy to sit in the pew we warm, or God-forbid, unworthy to receive the sacraments. I know that I have been there, and it’s not fun. The life can be drained out of you.

All of us are thirsty, hungry, poor, and in need. And yet we long for happiness and fulfilment, for peace, for acceptance and love. But the thing is, we often go looking for those things in the wrong places.

We can turn back to those addictions, we can become bitter towards those we love… we turn inward, becoming self-centered, self-serving, grasping after happiness in a bottle, a pill, or a fantasy… and we are still left hungry, thirsty, and poor. Again… I can only preach about this stuff because I know that place.

Now you may be thinking, Gee Kevin, what a way to start your preaching career. Doom and gloom. How uplifting! But all this is only the beginning of the good news that God wishes to give us, because in the midst of our thirst, hunger, and poverty, we hear words like this:

¨ All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!

God tell us today “I am here to fulfill you where you have found fulfilment nowhere else. I am here to provide the happiness for which you search. I am here who died for you, who love you with all that I am, and I invite you to come to my love, you who are poor, and receive from my good and generous bounty without any preconditions or payment. Come to me and be satisfied.”

God is always ready and more than willing to fulfill our true desire and meet our needs. He is here to lift us out of darkness, bringing us into his marvelous light. Nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Basically, news flash, this just in… GOD WANTS US TO BE HAPPY – but he wants us to be TRULY happy and fulfilled, not just comfortable and content.

This is exactly what Jesus shows us today in the gospel from Matthew. Did you catch that line at the beginning? “When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them.” When God looks upon our sin… our hunger, thirst, and our need, yes he saddened and wishes better for us, but the overwhelming desire of his heart is to cure us, heal us, and satisfy us. We must always remember that.

God takes what little we have, the littleness of our lives and hearts, and turns it into a feast, brimming with grace, forgiveness, fulfilment… and its usually packaged in Chick-fil-a sandwich bags. God desires to feed us with his goodness.

“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples.

If you’ve ever been to Mass, those words might sound familiar. This feast of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, where Jesus shows us that he will provide for us abundantly, is a prefigurement, a preview of the Eucharist, which we will experience right here in just a few minutes.

In the Eucharist, Jesus doesn’t just give us what’s on our amazon wish list… he gives us the best gift of fulfilment he could give us: HIMSELF – He who is love, who is peace, who is goodness itself.

The Catholic Church is practically the only religion, and the only mainstream denomination of Christianity to have the audacity and absurdity to really and truly believe and know that God himself is physically and literally right there in that tabernacle. And that when Father says the words of institution and raises up the host and the chalice, that bread and wine is changed into God – Jesus Christ is there to bring us fulfillment and true happiness.

He provides this feast in which he gives himself to us personally, holding nothing back of who he is, not even his physical presence, and he comes to quench our thirst, satiate our hunger, and fill us up in our need. This is where we find true happiness and fulfilment: at the altar of his sacrifice.

Jesus says to us: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh”

When we receive communion, we receive the answer to our questions… we literally receive the man who is God, the man who will multiply his grace, his help in us, providing us with all we need. The invitation for all of us is not to let that moment pass by. To pour out our hearts and desires after we have received him, allowing him to dwell in us and strengthen us.

Now I know that there are many different circumstances that can keep us from receiving communion – either we aren’t catholic, we need to make a good confession first, or we are not in a good state in our intimate relationships. If you find yourself in any of those categories, I want you to know that you are not excluded from this family or from the grace that Jesus wants to pour out to you – it is always available to you in prayer and the varying circumstances of life,

but the Eucharist, this physical and particular grace… this person, is lovingly invites you to do what needs to be done if this is a gift you wish to receive. Remember, All of us are in need, and God is forgiving and eternally merciful. We must all remember that. We’re all in the same boat.

God is here to fulfill us. God is here to forgive us. Let us approach this altar in trust, knowing that our true happiness lies in him who gives himself to us totally and without reserve, and will even leave us with baskets left over.