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Gospel
Mt 14:13-21

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."
Jesus 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.

Our priest looked at this morning's Gospel reading from the historical point of view looking back at how some people were fed in the Old Testament (I think he said Elisha in Kings, Chap. 4. And then he referenced another old testament reading of a similar line.

Then he focused us forward to the feeding of the 5,000 in today's Gospel and how Jesus
took the bread and two fish
looked to heaven
asked God's blessing
broke the bread
and then gave it to his apostles to distribute. There were 12 baskets of leftovers also--------this part never registered for me-------one for each of the apostle's. Some commentaries note one for each tribe of the Israelites.

Then our priest went forward even further to today, where the priest
takes the bread and wine
looks to heaven
gives thanks
asks the blessing on the bread and wine (in the words of Jesus)
and distributes it to the Deacon and Eucharistic ministers-------who then distribute it to the multitudes at all the Masses every Sunday.

He then called on all of us to be a disciple, much like a member of the 5,000. Would they have gone home and said nothing about Jesus feeding that many people with a few loaves and 2 fish? No, they would have gone forth and talked to people and invited them to go along with them to listen to Jesus the next time he was in the vicinity. Likewise, our priest told us that we are disciples, and should go forth and tell others about the good news of Jesus Christ and invite them to come and know him in the breaking of the bread during Mass.

It was really a good homily.