An Act of Faith

Homily for July 26, 2015 (17th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Our Lady Gate of Heaven Parish, Chicago
2 Kings 4:42-44; Psalm 145; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15

It’s the very definition of “an embarrassment of riches:”According to the National Resources Defense Council, up to 40% of all the food produced in the USA—$165 billion worth—is never eaten.  That’s 20 lbs. of food per person, per month…wasted.  At the same time, up to 50 million Americans are “food insecure” and nearly 800 million people in the world are undernourished. 

We throw out food for a variety of reasons.  Perhaps we don’t like leftovers; or maybe it got “lost” in the back of the fridge or pantry and reached a form that was unrecognizable as well as inedible.   It may be even more remarkable that up to half of all food waste in our country happens long before it ever gets to our homes.  It occurs on the farm or in the transportation and distribution processes, mainly because food is often overstocked at grocery stores or it doesn’t meet their cosmetic standards.  In addition, some believe the myth that they can be sued for donating food to food pantries or meal programs, despite a host of state and federal laws that protect people from liability for making such donations in good faith.

Whatever the case, it is no less than scandalous that so many of our brothers and sisters go hungry while perfectly good food is thrown away.  The problem isn’t a lack of food but rather the creativity, compassion, faith and will to make sure that it gets to the people who need it.

Today’s scripture readings provide a very different vision for us:  God is so good and so generous that, even in the face of seeming scarcity, God is able to produce a surplus!  God has the power to produce abundance from whatever we have, even when it doesn’t seem like nearly enough.  Psalm 145 proclaims: “The hand of the LORD feeds us; he answers all our needs.”

In 2 Kings 4, Elisha takes “twenty barley loaves made from the first fruits” of the harvest and is able to feed more than a hundred people.   It is one of ten stories in this part of the book, each attesting to the power of God:  oil is multiplied to help a widow pay off family debts so that her children are not sold into slavery; a powerful army commander, a gentile, is cured of his leprosy; a lost tool is found; etc.

In John 6, Jesus feeds over 5000 people by taking, blessing, breaking and sharing just five barley loaves and two fish.  The author of the gospel says that “Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining.”  The Greek word used here for “thanks” is eucharistein, the root word for the central communal ritual in our lives as Catholics.  But it is also a metaphor for the rest of our lives and ministries.  Our resources, personal and communal, internal and external, can often seem inadequate.  Yet the Lord invites us to bring to him whatever we have and whoever we are; to give thanks; and to share it with others, trusting that he will do the rest.

It’s an act of faith that we are able to undertake with ever-greater boldness as we grow in the virtues that St. Paul urged the church at Ephesus to cultivate:  humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and above all, love.  And it’s the flowering of our vocation as a church, when we witness to the world that we are “one body and one Spirit,” united in hope, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”+