Dear Parish Family,

“They all ate and were satisfied…”

 The Gospel for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time is from Matthew (14:13-21). It is the account of the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and the fish. Our Blessed Lord not only fed the multitudes, but there were twelve, full wicker baskets left over.

 The Lord will never be outdone in generosity. Indeed, He continues to give us the great gift of His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that:

1323 "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'"

1324 The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." 136 "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."

1325 "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit."

1326  Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.

1327  In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking."

Many in our world hunger for food. Many hunger for love. Many hunger for peace and
security. Many hunger for help and comfort in difficulties. Many hunger for happiness.

St. Paul, in today’s second reading (Romans 8:35, 37-39), reminds us “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God alone can satisfy our every good and legitimate longing and desire. May those who search amidst the shadows and darkness come to the light of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

God bless you!
Fr. Dan Redmond