When Jesus received the news of John the Baptist’s death he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and took pity on them and healed their sick.

When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they answered, ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.’ ‘Bring them to me’, he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves he handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining, twelve baskets full.
Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children. (Matthew 14:13-21)

Reflection - The Kingdom of God in everyday life

This week’s Gospel is the beginning of a new section of St Matthew’s Gospel which talks about the Kingdom of God on earth and the Church as a visible sign of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom is found where human beings are. It is deeply enfolded and immersed in the world of human experience: hunger, fear, disease, the sound of sheer silence, celebration, joy, hope, forgiveness, mercy, justice, in hearing and keeping the word of God. The kingdom is made present especially when human needs are responded to and transformed with the life of God.

In today’s Gospel, we encounter several human situations: Jesus’ own need to grieve the death of John the Baptist; a large group of distressed people who search him out; a large group of hungry people; a group of disciples in training.

Jesus is moved with compassion for the crowd in spite of his own grief. As evening approaches, the disciples want to send the people away, but Jesus wants to feed them. He invites the disciples into a moment of reflection, training them to have confidence, to show initiative, to be leaders.

Jesus uses the common Jewish meal ritual of blessing, breaking and giving to feed the crowd with just five loaves and two fish. By working with Jesus and entrusting him with the little they have, the huge crowd is fed. What, at first, seemed so inadequate became more than enough.

Like Jesus, the disciple has to learn how to touch the world of human need with the transforming life of God.

Like the huge crowd we can be oblivious to God’s action revealed in the goodness of other people.

Sometimes we, too, need to lift up our heads to see what is really happening and recognise how many times in the ordinary circumstances of life God favours us with moments of grace. God continually invites us to see what is really going on and how extraordinary the ordinary can be when we see with God’s eyes.

You can download and print our prayers and reflections for this Sunday.

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