Vol. 38   No. 43                  JULY  31, 2011                    Cycle A                                                   XVIII  SUNDAY  OF  THE  YEAR                         They need not go away; you give them something to eat                                            ENTRANCE ANTIPHON God, come to my help. Lord, quickly give me assistance. You are the one who helps me and sets me free: Lord, do not be long in coming. (Ps 69:2,6) PENITENTIAL RITE In today’s Gospel, we hear of Jesus’ compassion – in curing the sick and satisfying the hunger of the people with five loaves and two fish. Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, reaches out to all of us in our time of need. We too are empowered with the help of the indwelling Spirit to reach out to others and share with them the compassion of Jesus. Let us, therefore, ask ourselves: do we experience the Lord, who comes to us in his Word and Sacrament? Do we have the compassion of Jesus, that we are able to share our resources with others and be kind to them? (Pause) I confess… Glory to God… OPENING PRAYER Father of everlasting goodness, our origin and guide, be close to us and hear the prayers of all who praise you. Forgive our sins and restore us to life. Keep us safe in your love. FIRST READING (This contains an invitation to come to a banquet. The banquet stands for the life of love and friendship, God wishes to share with His people. For Israel, the return from exile meant an outpouring of God’s graces and blessings for all people.) A reading from the Book of Isaiah     (55:1-3) Thus says the Lord, “Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. This is the Word of the Lord PSALM   (144) Response: You open wide your hand, O Lord, you grant our desires. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures. The eyes of all creatures look to you and you give them their food in due time. You open wide your hand, grant the desires of all who live. The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds. He is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts. SECOND READING (St Paul affirms that nothing in this world or in the next can separate us from the love of Christ.) A reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Romans   (8:35,37-39) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION Alleluia, alleluia! I am the light of the world, says the Lord; he who follows me will have the light of life. Alleluia! (Jn 8:12) GOSPEL (Jesus meets the needs of the hungry, heals the sick and thus manifests God’s compassion and love.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew    (14:13-21) When Jesus heard the news of John the Baptist’s death, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a lonely place and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.   This is the Gospel of the Lord I believe in God,/the Father Almighty,/ Creator of heaven and earth./ I believe in Jesus Christ,/his only Son, our Lord./ He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit/ and born of the Virgin Mary./He suffered under Pontius Pilate,/was crucified, died, and was buried./He descended to the dead./On the third day he rose again./He ascended into Heaven,/and is seated at the right hand of the Father./He will come again to judge the living and the dead./I believe in the Holy Spirit,/the Holy Catholic Church,/the communion of saints,/the forgiveness of sins,/the resurrection of the body,/and the life everlasting./ Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Cel: Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus shows great compassion in curing the sick and satisfying the hunger of the people. Let us, therefore, pray that he may satisfy our hunger for the food that will give us abundant and eternal life. Response: Lord, lead us to eternal life. 1. That the Pope, bishops and priests may come to recognize and experience Jesus at the breaking of the bread and share the compassion of Jesus with all. 2. That Christians, all over the world, may act with compassion towards others in need. 3. That the rich in our country may overcome selfishness and narrow mindedness and have a genuine spirit of sharing and caring. 4. That the rich and affluent nations may learn to share their resources and riches with the poor and underprivileged countries, across the globe. 5. That each of us, here present, trust in the providence of God and seek fulfilment in spending ourselves for others. (Pray for local and personal needs) Cel: Heavenly Father, you have blessed us with eternal life. Grant us the grace to live a life of compassion so that we may share your messianic banquet in the age to come. We ask this… PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Merciful Lord, make holy these gifts, and let our spiritual sacrifice make us an everlasting gift to you. We ask this… PREFACE    (P 31) Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks. We see your infinite power in your loving plan of salvation. You came to our rescue by your power as God, but you wanted us to be saved by one like us. Man refused your friendship, but man himself was to restore it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him the angels of heaven offer their prayer of adoration as they rejoice in your presence for ever. May our voices be one with theirs in their triumphant hymn of praise: All: Holy, holy, holy… COMMUNION ANTIPHON The Lord says: I am the bread of life. A man who comes to me will not go away hungry, and no one who believes in me will thirst. (Jn 6:35) PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Lord, you give us the strength of new life by the gift of the Eucharist. Protect us with your love and prepare us for eternal redemption. We ask this…     LITURGY  AND  LIFE According to a Persian legend, there was a great bird in the East and the shadow of its wings would bring fortune. One day the king, in his splendor, was riding with his courtiers. Then they saw the bird and all the servants—except one—ran to get under the shadow of its wings. The king was surprised. “Why didn’t you also go?” the king asked. “Why should I run after a mere bird, when I can enjoy the presence of my king?” The king was so impressed, that he gave him a promotion. This story cautions us against our human tendency to chase the shadows and miss the substance. Today’s people are restlessly craving for a miracle or a fortune to happen in their lives. We come across people, making pilgrimages with the intention of getting favours or people flocking to retreat centres for miracles. There are people among us, who run from one god to another; one religion to another and one god-man to another. Seldom do these people realize, like the servant in the story, that it is a privilege to be in the company and presence of a God, who fills the “deserted areas” of their lives and makes them whole. Jesus, our king, alone can give us the bread that will give us eternal life; he alone can lead us to God’s Kingdom and he alone can satisfy our hunger and bring us to eternal peace and happiness. The crowd in today’s Gospel was following Jesus, not that they had understood or known him, but they saw him as a miracle worker and an extraordinary human person. Jesus responds to them with compassion. From their immediate needs, Jesus leads them to the future banquet of eternal life. The multiplication of the loaves and fish was intended to help the people accept the gift of his own body and blood, for their salvation. Jesus does not stop with satisfying the physical hunger of his followers, but he wants to challenge them to hunger for the bread that will give them eternal life. In order to receive this bread from Jesus, we need to know who Jesus is and what he is capable of accomplishing for us. Our tendency is to stay with the bare facts of the miracle—Jesus’ display of great power and all were fed—and miss the deeper significance of this event itself. Jesus, through this significant miracle proves that human resources are not sufficient to make present what God’s kingdom promises. Jesus invites the people to witness the power of his presence and challenges them to go beyond meagre human resources and depend on the one who can satisfy them without any cost. The abundant food freely given marks this as a sure sign that in the person of Jesus Christ the Kingdom of God is present. The ‘deserted place’ of the Gospel story we just heard, was by a lake, at the time of Jesus. Today, the “deserted place” is within us, but few people have the courage to go there and explore that inner space and wait for God. So many people do not allow themselves to experience their own spiritual hunger or get in touch with it. Let us be reminded that the bread that Jesus gives us is not merely to satisfy physical hunger but to give us eternal life. Unlike the loaves, Christ is not multiplied; he remains one and the same, unchanged forever. Neither is he divided; he remains in his completeness and fullness and gives himself to us that we may have life and have it in abundance. —Fr Johnson Vattakkunnel, ssp       AUGUST  2011             READINGS  OF  THE  WEEK                       Psalter Week  2 01 Mon (W) St Alphonsus Liguori, Nm 11:4b-15/ Ps 81:12-13.14-15.16-17/ Mt 14:22-36 02 Tue (W) Sts Eusebius of Vercelli/Peter J. Eymard, Nm 12:1-13/ Ps 51:3-4. 5-6ab. 6cd-7.12-13/ Mt 15:1-2. 10-14 03 Wed (G) Nm 13:1-2. 25 – 14:1. 26a-29a. 34-35/ Ps 106:6-7ab. 13-14. 21-22.23/        Mt 15:21-28 04 Thu (W) St John Mary Vianney, Nm 20:1-13/ Ps 95:1-2.6-7.8-9/ Mt 16:13-23 05 Fri (W) Dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome Dt 4:32-40/ Ps 77:12-E13.14-15.16 and 21/ Mt 16:24-28 06 Sat (W) TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD, Feast Dn 7:9-10.13-14/ Ps 97:1-2.5-6.9/ 2 Pt 1:16-19/ Mt 17:1-9