Family-Style Dinners

(The following is a homily given at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church, Enid OK on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 7/36/15)

 

When I was in seminary, we would have what was call “family-style dinners” every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.  These were dinners that we as a seminary community were required to be at.  Here’s how it would go: After praying Evening Prayer together, we would all make our way to the cafeteria. We would find a place to sit at one of the 30 or so tables and stand in front of our chairs, waiting for the rector to come into the room.  The room would hush as Fr. Rector came into the room and stood at his own chair.  He would then being the Prayer before meals. 

Now most of us are familiar with the main part of this prayer:

 “Bless us oh Lord and these Thy gift which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.”

But there’s actually a lot more to the prayer that I didn’t know until I experience my first family-style dinner.  Before we ever got to this familiar prayer, the Rector would begin with the following words:

“The eyes of all creatures look to you to give them food in due time; you give it to them, they gather it up; you open your hand, they have their fill.” (See Ps. 145)

This line, adapted from our Responsorial Psalm today (Ps. 145) would then be followed by an “Our Father” and then with the familiar prayer we know.  The purpose of having these family-styles dinners was to teach the importance of community and fraternity.  Especially as future priests, we had to come to understand not only the importance of this, but the necessity of it; the essential element community – family -- plays in our faith.

The readings for today speak to this in a couple of ways.   Our first reading (II Kings 4:2-44) presents us with the story of a man coming to Elisha the prophet to offer 20 barley loaves to the LORD.  Elisha tells the man to give them to the people gathered there, but the man protests, saying that it is not enough. 

“How can I set this before a hundred people?” the man asks Elisha.  And indeed this was a reasonable question.  Elisha nonetheless says that it is the Lord’s will, and to do it.  The man does as he is told by the prophet, and everyone has their fill, leaving left-overs.

The important element of this passage is two-fold for us as Christians.  The first is that with obedience to God’s command comes blessing.  As a family of faith that is increasingly counter-cultural, we cannot forget that what we believe and what that belief asks of us is meant for the benefit, not only of us, but for the world.  This is true even when we think that what our faith asks of us is difficult or implausible.  An example of this can be found in the family today where, for very reasonable justifications, wives and husbands are reluctant to stay open to the possibility of children.  They have the mantra of the culture echoing in their minds that to have more than 2.5 children is not only inconvenient but irresponsible; that you couldn’t possibly give the time and the love to a larger family.  Today, many good and faithful Catholics find themselves asking, as the man did today of Elisha: “How can I set myself before such responsibility?”

And yet we have proof of God’s abundance everywhere we look. The very buildings in which we worship speaks to the blessing our God bestows upon those who revere him and take Him for his word.  As our Psalm tells us: “The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth” -- the truth of utter dependence; complete reliance; total trust. The hand of the LORD will feed us; he will answer all our needs.  His justice and generosity know no boundaries.  And for those who look to Him, God gives them what they need, without exception.  It’s up to us to accept this gift, and receive it regardless of our personal doubts or weaknesses.

The second element this Old Testament passage foreshadows is what the Gospel makes clear: the gift of the Eucharist. (John 6:1-15).  Today’s Gospel reading is of Jesus’ great sign of feeding the five thousand.  In it, we are reminded that God is able to use whatever we have to offer, in order to bring His love to the world.  Moreover, he not only uses it, but He makes it into the food that nourishes and sustains the world: the food of Himself.  St. Andrew might have summed up the thoughts of the man in our first reading, and even our own thoughts when he said:

“There [are] five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” (John 6:9) 

We each have our own loaves and fish to offer, but we cannot imagine how God may use them.What good are our weaknesses?  What good are our failings?  What good are our seemingly insignificant achievements?  There is so much work to be done, and what we have to offer seems, at best, to be a trifle, and at worst, a hindrance to God’s generosity.

But what does Jesus do in reply?  “He took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them” (John 6:11).  

What does this mean for us? 

It means that he will take our stale loaves of sin and weakness, our humble fish of incompetence and insufficiency, and he will make them into His Gift to the Father, thereby making this generous gift free and available to the world.  And he will have done it because we were willing to trust in him.

This sixth chapter of John is seen by the Catholic Church as one of the most important Eucharistic passages in the New Testament because in it we see our Lord multiply something seemingly inconsequential and feeds a multitude.  It is here that we recognize what Jesus wants to do for us: to feed us and to bring us into his life and his family.  He shows us that he can use whatever we have in order to bring his Good News to the world.  “Nothing will be wasted” because Jesus picks up the fragments of our lives and makes them whole again.  He takes our brokenness and heals it, so that we can allow him to perform his signs and work his miracles to heal the world.

My brothers and sisters, what we must never forget is that the danger of scandal comes not from the impossibility of God’s miracles, but in our refusal to accept those miracles in our lives – as a family of believers.  If we do not respond – individually, yes, but more importantly as a community of faith – we will be a part of the causes of division and vice that works to break down the Body of Christ.  We become hypocrites, talking the talk of the Good News, but refusing to walk the walk. 

What the Feeding of the Five Thousand tells us is that we are called to bring the gift of Christ – the Good News – to the world TOGETHER and with obedience to our Lord.  This is why St. Paul tells us today that we are

“to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit.” (Eph. 4:1-4)

It is in this sacrifice, this banquet, that we are given the perfect answer to the problem of Christian Unity.  It is in the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ that we find the cohesion that we – as ambassadors of Christ – desperately need  to feed a world that is hungry for the Truth; is thirsty for Real Love; and is yearning for that which will “satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

 Going back to the family-style dinners at my seminary; we would always finish our meal with a prayer.  It goes like this:

“Let all your works praise you O Lord; let all your people bless you.  We give you thanks, Almighty God, for all your gifts.  Give all people the food they need, so that they may join us in giving you thanks.” 

Today may we allow this Eucharistic Sacrifice give the world the food it needs through us.  Let it teach us how to welcome others home to Christ so that they may join us in this Eucharistic feast.