Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Spiritual Malnourishment

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 8.1.22 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Matthew 14:13–21

Friends, our Gospel today tells about the feeding of the five thousand.
Jesus instructs the crowd to recline, and they do so on the grass.
Taking the loaves and dried fish, Jesus makes a meal that satisfies the enormous crowd.
They are hungry, tired, and worn out from their exertions,
and Jesus gives them sustenance for the day.

For Thomas Aquinas, the great metaphor for the Eucharist is sustenance,
food for the journey.
The Eucharist is daily food, sustenance for the journey, nourishment to get us through the day to day.
How effective would we be if we never ate, or ate only on special occasions and in a festive environment?
Not very. So, in the spiritual life, we must eat and drink or we will not have strength.

Is this just meant in some vague symbolic way? No, rather in a vividly analogical way.
For just as the body needs physical nourishment,
the spirit needs spiritual nourishment,
and there is no getting around this law.

Now think of how many Catholics are absent from the Mass and the Eucharist
and confession or even daily prayer.
This spiritual malnourishment is one of the biggest problems facing our Church.

[MurphsLaw]

+++When Jesus heard of the death
of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted
place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and
followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for
them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples
approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is
already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can
go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
He said to them, “There is no need
for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“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,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments
left over–
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five
thousand men,
not counting women and children.+++