Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” July-August 2021

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
1st week of the psalter

FIRST READING

From the Second Book of Kings (2 Kgs 4:42-44)
In those days, a man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread from the firstfruits: twenty barley loaves and fresh grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” He replied, “Give it to the people to eat. For thus says the Lord: ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’” He set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. The word of God.

Commentary on the first reading

Let us try to read the word of God by changing the subject and putting ourselves in the place of the man who brings the loaves. So today it is to me that God says to give them to eat “to the people” around me. I immediately realize that they cannot be enough. What do those twenty loaves represent in my life? They may be the little strength left at the end of a day weighed down by the difficulties of work, misunderstandings in the family, financial problems, or a lack of affection: there are many problems that can afflict us daily. And so I realize that I “cannot be enough” with my meager daily resources. But I must look within and look back: how many times, despite my poor loaves, has the Most High intervened and “made enough” of the little I had? Unconditional trust is an exercise that is not learned once and for all, but must be practiced day by day. Trust practiced, invoked, and learned will make us say: “They shall eat and have some left over,” because “the Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.”

SECOND READING

From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians (Eph 4:1-6)
Brothers and sisters, I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another in love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. The word of God.

Commentary on the second reading

Paul is a prisoner because of the Gospel. We have never experienced this situation and find it difficult to understand, even though it still happens today. It is made more concrete for us by all the people who have had to flee their countries and struggle to find refuge in Europe because of their Christian faith. I look at them with admiration: uprooted from their land and families, often welcomed in a refugee center without intimacy or privacy, struggling to learn our language and find any kind of work, which is often denied to them because of the color of their skin. Alongside them are many other poor and dispossessed people who question us every day about the choices we make. Even in our parishes we look at them with distrust. So am I, are we, true Christians as Saint Paul asks us to be? Are we truly one body and one Spirit? And yet, together with him, we profess one Lord, one faith, one baptism, “one God and Father of all.” We need to reflect on this.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to John (Jn 6:1-15)
At that time, Jesus crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, that is, of Tiberias, and a large crowd followed him because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. The Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming toward him, and he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may have something to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to have a piece.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many people?” Jesus replied, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place. So they sat down, about five thousand men. Then Jesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, distributed them to those who were seated; he did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted. When they had had enough, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been left over by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign he had performed, they said, “This is truly the prophet, the one who is to come into the world!” But Jesus, knowing that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself. The word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

John places the account of the multiplication of the loaves near Passover: a clear allusion to the action of the Last Supper. It is an event of particular importance; in fact, it is reported by all four evangelists. Many people follow Jesus; attracted by his miracles, they hope to be healed of all their ailments. With five loaves and two fish, Jesus satisfies their hunger. Everyone is enthusiastic and wants to make him king, a king who will free them from the effort of obtaining bread day after day. They think a new Moses has arrived, one who will feed his people. They have understood nothing! Their hearts are incapable of taking the step that separates them from true life. They follow Jesus out of self-interest, seeking only easy comfort. People deceive themselves when they place themselves at the center of their relationship with God; in this way they become incapable of grasping a new life, the life Jesus is offering, which cannot take root when their goals are material. Jesus challenges those who seek him for their own benefit and rejects an earthly kingship because he has come to offer something different: you alone, Lord, are bread broken for the life of the world.