Florida Catholic | Sunday Word

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God fills our emptiness

August 3, 2008 :: Is 55:1-3; Ps 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18; Rom 8:35, 37-39; Mt 14:13-21

SISTER SALLIE LATKOVICH | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

I often have the privilege of leading retreats. At the beginning of each retreat, I reflect on “changing gears” into the “retreat mode.” One of the shifts I encourage is to be in a “receptive posture” to what God has to give during the retreat.

As an illustration of this receptive posture, I bring along a young child’s toy. You know it: It is a little box that has various shaped holes in the lid and it comes with all of those shapes to put into the box. I suggest that we each have different shaped holes, or emptiness of our hearts, and God knows exactly how that emptiness can be filled.

That is the message of the Scripture readings we are given to hear on this Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The first hearers of Isaiah’s proclamation of the Lord were those Israelites newly returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. One would think it would be a happy homecoming, but just the opposite was true – it was full of difficulty. The message of the Lord in Isaiah has God meeting the basic needs of life: water, grain, wine and milk; even “rich fare.” And even better, God will renew the everlasting covenant. That is, the relationship between God and the Israelites is restored!

The letter to the Romans underscores the message of Isaiah. No experience of the human condition can separate us from the love of God, the new covenant in Jesus Christ, Our Lord!

Let me digress from the primary theme for just a moment. The first verse of the Gospel says: “When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” This short sentence speaks volumes about Jesus’ humanity, for we have all had the need to get away, to withdraw, as Jesus did. We might use a “getaway car” while he used a “getaway boat.” He withdrew to a deserted place by himself. Whether we are introvert or extrovert, we sometimes need to be alone. Let us take heart and oneness with this single sentence about our Jesus.

The focus shifts to the crowds who sought Jesus for healing. Indeed, God meets our needs, fills our emptiness. But if you think that is good, there is more, so much more. We come to the multiplication of the loaves.

It is evening, it has been a long day and the disciples want to send the crowds away to buy food for themselves. Jesus says, “Give them some food yourselves.” Today, their response might have been, “Say what??? We don’t have enough.” And Jesus’ reply might have been, “There is always enough; you always have enough with God.”

Then follows the traditional ritual: taking, blessing, breaking and giving the bread. We might hear the echo of John’s Gospel, where Jesus says, “Do you see what I have done? So you must do.” We, too, are called to feed the emptiness of others’ hearts and bodies. And we must believe that there is enough – even MORE than enough.

For, we hear that there were 12 basketsful left over: enough for the twelve tribes of Israel; enough for the Twelve Apostles; enough for our own basic communities of faith.

We rejoice that God knows what we need and always fills us full and overflowing.

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