Feeding the Hungry
Master of the Acts of Mercy [Web Gallery of Art]
Readings
(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel Matthew 14:13-21 (New
Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)
Now when Jesus
heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he
went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured
their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and
said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away
so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said
to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They
replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he
said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then
he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the
two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave
them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all
ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces,
twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men,
besides women and children.
Stamp issued in Chile for the beatification of Fr Alberto Hurtado SJ, 16 October 1994
The late Fr John Griffin, a Columban colleague
from New Zealand, who after many years in the Philippines went to work in
Chile, wrote about a great saint of our times, San Alberto Hurtado SJ,
a native of that country, in the last printed edition of Misyon,
the Columban magazine in the Philippines that I edited from 2002 until 2017, the March-April 2008 issue.
One story he told in that article is a perfect expression of what happened in today's gospel. But first a little background in that same article:
Overall, Fr Hurtado is best known and
remembered throughout Chile for his Hogar de Cristo (Christ’s Home) Foundation. The seed for
this was sown late one night when he was on his way home to San Ignacio. He met
a man who was in poor health, had eaten nothing all day and had nowhere to go.
This was the priest’s first encounter
with such poverty and it moved him greatly. He did what he could for the man
and then asked: ‘What are our Catholics doing for those who have no roof over
their heads?’ He began asking this question during his retreats and so was born
the idea of ‘Hogar de Cristo’. He formed a board of directors from people eager
to help – six men and 30 women. Land was available alongside the Jesuit parish
of Jesus the Worker and the first night-shelters were built and an appeal for
funds began. By 1945 there were five shelters that had been able to house
12,000 poor men. Now it was time to do something for the numerous ‘street kids’
who spent their nights under the many bridges over the Mapocho River which runs
for miles through Santiago. These youngsters needed educations as well as shelter
and land was donated for this purpose a few miles to the north of the city near
Colina railway station and a children’s home was built.
Today's gospel tells us: Jesus
said to them, 'They need not go away; you give them something to eat.'
Stamp
issued in Chile in 2001 for the centennial of the birth of Padré Hurtado
Fr
Griffin continues about San Alberto:
Providence
was always on his side. At a meeting one night his board of directors was
unwilling, for lack of funds, to approve a new project. In the midst of
discussions there was an unexpected call for Fr Hurtado to attend to someone at
his front door. He had a brief conversation with the caller who said she wanted
to leave a gift to help the great work he was doing.
He
gratefully put her envelope in his pocket, wished her a good evening and
returned to his meeting. He looked at the contents of the envelope as he sat
down. Then he tossed a cheque onto the table saying, ‘There you are, you of
little faith!’ It was for one million pesos – worth about US$30,000 at that
time.
Statue of San Alberto Hurtado SJ
Viña del Mar, Chile, his birthplace [Wikipedia]
The
directors on the board of Hogar de Cristo were being prudent, as they were
supposed to be and, in being so, following what Jesus teaches us elsewhere in
the gospels. But Father Alberto was listening to what Jesus said to the
Apostles today: They need not go away; you give them something to eat.
I'm
sure that when Father Alberto threw the check on the table and said 'There you
are, you of little faith' he did so with a smile that expressed both irony and
gratitude and that the board members saw the irony and felt the same sense of
gratitude.
Once again we find the presence of
Jesus in the needs of others - and in one who joyfully lives the Gospel.
Smile and move forward! Total
sacrifice is perpetual joy. The squaring of the circle? No. Because there is a
secret link between the gift of self, out of love, and peace of soul. (San Alberto in a retreat to priests, 1948.)
The
Gospel, radiant with the glory of Christ's cross, constantly invites us to rejoice.
(Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, No
5, 2013.)
Schola Gregoriana Abba Caelum, Seoul, Korea
The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes
Lambert Lombard [Web Gallery of Art]
Meditation during a retreat by San Alberto on the gift of self and cooperation.
Some of the details here are found in St John’s Gospel.
Indecision,
faintheartedness is the great obstacle in the plan of
cooperation. We think: I’m not worth all that much, and
from this comes discouragement: It makes no difference whether I act or
fail to act. Our powers of action are so limited. Is my
unpretentious work worthwhile? Does my abstaining from this have any meaning?
If I fail to sacrifice myself nothing changes. No one needs me . . .
A mediocre vocation? How many vocations are lost. It is the
advice of the devil that is partly true. The difficulty must be
faced.
The solution
5,000 men along
with women and children have been hungry for three days… Food? They would need
at least 200 denarii to feed them and this is the approximate
yearly salary of a labourer.
In the
desert! Tell them to go! But Andrew, more observant says:
There are 5 loaves and 2 fish, but what are these among so many! Here
we have our same problem: the disproportion.
And the
loaves. Made of barley, hard as rocks (the Jews used
wheat). And the fish. They were from the lake, small,
rather mushy in texture, carried by a young boy in a sack that had lain on the
ground for three days in the heat . . . not much of a solution.
Did the Lord
despise this offering? No, and with his blessing he fed all the hungry and had
leftovers. Neither did he despise the leftovers: 12 baskets of the surplus were
gathered, fish heads and bones, but even this he valued.
The young boy
consented to give Christ his poor offering, not realizing that he would feed
the multitude. He believed that he had lost his small possession but
he found instead that there was even a surplus and that he had cooperated for
the good of the others.
And me . . .
like those fish (less than those loaves) bruised and perhaps decomposing but in
the hands of Christ my action may have a divine scope a divine reach.
Remember
Ignatius, Augustine, Camillus de Lellis, and Matt Talbot, base sinners whose
lives were converted into spiritual nourishment for millions who will continue
to feed on their witness.
My actions and
my desires can have a divine scope and can change the face of the earth. I
will not know it, the fish did not know it either. I can do a great deal
if I remain in Christ; I can accomplish much if I cooperate with Christ . . .
A Hymn to
Alberto Hurtado SJ
Written
by Pablo Coloma for the beatification of Blessed Alberto on 16 October 1994,
Sung by Pablo Coloma and Ximena Concha
Alberto, hoy resuena tu nombre
Se escucha tu palabra encendida
Tu rostro hoy recorre las calles
Tu huella marca un nuevo camino
Profeta que anunciaste el Reino
Supiste denunciar el dolor
Reíste con un canto a la vida
Mostraste un camino mejor.
Alberto,
your name resounds today,
your
enlightening word is heard,
your
face is seen today on the streets,
your
footprints mark a new path.
A
prophet who proclaimed the Kingdom,
who
knew about pain,
who
laughed with a song to life,
who
showed a better way.
Alberto contemplé tu figura
incendiando las calles de una oscura
ciudad.
Y vi que mil rostros reían
y otros más comprendían que era el paso de
Dios.
Alberto has tocado nuestra alma
y ya siento que enciende ese fuego de Dios.
Tu vida fue un regalo divino,
una historia que hizo de este Chile un
hogar.
Alberto,
I watched you
lighting
up the streets of a dark city.
And I
saw a thousand faces laughing
and
others who understood that that was the way of God.
Alberto,
you have touched our soul
and I
feel that I am lit by the fire of God.
Your
life was a divine gift,
a story
that made this Chile a home.
Maestro que enseñaste a vivir
la vida como lo hizo Jesús,
mirando en los hombres que sufren
su cuerpo castigado en la cruz.
A
teacher who taught how to live
as
Jesus did,
looking
at those who suffer,
his
body punished on the cross.
Apóstol,
compañero de pobres,
viviste
en tu carne el dolor
de
tantos que viván despreciados,
tus
manos fueron pan y un hogar.
Apostle,
companion of the poor,
you
lived in your flesh the pain
of the
many who are despised,
your
hands were bread and a home.
Alberto contemplé tu figura
incendiando las calles de una oscura
ciudad.
Y vi que mil rostros reían
y otros más comprendían que era el paso de
Dios.
Alberto has tocado nuestra alma
y ya siento que enciende ese fuego de Dios.
Tu vida derramada en las calles
se alsa inmensa hasta el cielo en las manos
de todos.
Alberto,
I watched you
lighting
up the streets of a dark city.
And I
saw a thousand faces laughing and others who understood
that
that was the way of God.
Alberto,
you have touched our soul
and I
feel that I am lit by the fire of God.
Your
life poured out on the streets
is
infinitely raised to heaven in the hands of all.
Just as St Teresa of Kolkata is known to everyone simply as 'Mother Teresa' and St Pius of Pietrelcina as 'Padre Pio', San Alberto is known to Chileans still as 'Padré Hurtado'.
Schola Gregoriana Abba Caelum, Seoul, Korea
Antiphona ad communionem
Communion Antiphon Wisdom 16:20
Panem
de caelo dedisti nobis, Domine,
You have given us, O Lord, bread form heaven,
habentem omne delectamentum, et omnem saporem suavitas.
endowed with all delights and sweetness to every taste.
On Sundays in Ordinary Time there is a choice between a Communion Antiphon with an Old Testament text and one with a New Testament text. The above is the former.
Extraordinary Form of the Mass
Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)
This Sunday, 2 August, is the Ninth Sunday After Pentecost in the calendar that uses the TLM. Complete Mass in Latin and English here.
