From 5000 then to us here and now

This was my message on Sunday - with acknowledgement to Bishop Barron!

These three Sundays we hear from John chapter 6. John's Gospel has no account of the institution of the Eucharist  - but it does have chapter 6 instead. This is a kind of meditation on the Eucharist.  On Sunday we heard the first part - the feeding of the 5000, a moment recorded in all four Gospels. As John tells the story, we see an account, a symbolic presentation of the Eucharist itself, but we need to decipher it, just as we do in the story of the Road to Emmaus.

First we are told that it takes place up a mountain. Mountains and hills are places of encounter in scripture between God and us. Think of Sinai, Sion and Tabor.  We go up, God comes down. What is the Mass?   It's a mountain top experience, of communion and of transfiguration. 

Secondly, we see Jesus sit down - the attitude of the teacher, with his disciples at his feet. When we have gathered at Mass, we sit down to listen to God's Word in the readings. We sit down with Jesus!

Then the Liturgy of the Eucharist follows, just as Jesus proceeds to feed the crowd. We are told  this happens before the Passover, just as the Last Supper did. The crowd will be fed by the Lamb of God himself, just as we are

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But with what did he feed them? He could have fed them - and us - from nothing. He's God! But he delights in drawing on our cooperation. His desire is to feed us with his Body and blood, but in order to do so he invites us to present our little, so that he can transfigure it. This is the Offertory Procession or Presentation of the Gifts.  What do you have? Jesus asks the apostles. We present some little round breads, a drop of wine and some of our cash. He proceeds to elevate it into food for eternal life.

Then St John echoes the words of the Last Supper in his account. Our Lord took, and gave thanks, and gave - bringing us to the heart of the Mass in the Eucharistic Prayer. At this point the priest is operating in the person of Christ (hence vestments) as he speaks the words of the Last Supper.

The people receive as much as they needed - yes for their stomachs, but we receive for our deepest hunger too, the deepest longings of our hearts. The little bread and wine will never satisfy our bodies, let alone our spirits, but transfigured they do.

Lastly we learn that the fragments are collected in twelve baskets - 12 the number of the tribes and the apostles, the number symbolic of all the people. We also collect up what is left over, and place it in the trabernacle for those unable to be present.

In the description of this miracle from so long ago we can find the miracle of every Mass. There, in a mountain top experience we can indeed be fed at the deepest level of our souls.