Homily for Saturday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time Cycle II
Theme: Leftovers
Lunch in Old City, Jerusalem
By: Deacon Bill Frere
Homily for Saturday February 12 2022
Gospel – Mark 8:1-10
Well, you missed it; you really missed it! If you had only been over at our house the other night, you would have been treated to a dizzying array of culinary delights, an unbelievable assortment of tasty treats! We had beef stroganoff, veal picante, fresh baked bread, lazy lasagna, and turkey pot pie (from scratch). It was a dinner worth relishing a second time. As a matter of fact, it literally was! We feasted on what was commonly called LEFTOVERS! It was a night that we cleaned out the fridge of all the remnants of dinners past!
Now that might not seem all that appetizing but think about it. What do leftovers really tell us? We made more food than we could eat! We could save the extra for a rainy (snowy and cold) day. We got to revisit a meal from the past and appreciate even more the second time. It brought back memories of that first meal, not just the food and its preparation but also the conversation. Who would have thought that leftovers could be such a rich storehouse of memories.
Jesus, in today’s Gospel, was moved with pity for the crowd of people who spent all day in the heat listening to His words. So He multiplied 7 loaves of bread and a few fish to feed them when there was no way they could have been fed otherwise. But what strikes me is that there were leftovers, 7 baskets full of fragments.
Think about that. Jesus fed not only their bodies but their souls that day! And when it was all over, there was still more left over. There was still more food, more reminders of His words for the days ahead. What does that say about His love, His compassion? God’s love is abundant; His compassion has no limits! Even when we think we are full, God still sets aside even more food for us for another day! God doesn’t just feed us for a day; it is for a lifetime!
Food for our bodies! Food for our souls! Every day, God loves us, sustains us, cares for us! Every day God reminds us not to worry. I have even more for you tomorrow!
Deacon Bill Frere