Commentary: 18 OT A

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, A

Isaiah 55: 1-3

Psalm 145

Romans 8: 35, 37-39

Matthew 14: 13-21



Today’s Scriptures talk about eating. The First Reading is from the book of the prophet Isaiah, in which the Lord invites all those who are hungry and thirsty to come to Him and be satisfied. “Come to Me heedfully—listen, that you might have life.” The Responsorial Psalm picks up that idea, and sings in the refrain, “The hand of the Lord feeds us; He answers all our needs.” The Gospel for today is the Matthean version of the feeding of the five thousand by Jesus, with five loaves and a few fish. The feel of the text is eucharistic/paschal in character: He has the crowds sit down (recline); he takes; looks up to heaven; gives thanks (blesses); breaks the bread; distributes it. All are fed to satisfaction. St. Ephrem the Syrian, speaking about this passage, says: “Our Lord in a desert place changed a few loaves into many…thus, before the time came to give men and women His own body and blood to feed on, He accustomed their palates to His bread, giving them a taste of the transitory, to teach them to delight in His life-giving body…He awakened our desire by things pleasing to the palate, in order to draw us to that which gives life to the soul…Humans who practice any craft always fall short of their customers’ desires—they are unable to meet their requirements; but what God does goes beyond anyone’s desire.” (Diatessaron 12)



The in-course reading of Romans continues this week. Last week, we heard of the good things God has in store for us. This week, Paul asks the rhetorical question: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” and answers it by saying, “Nothing (and he gives quite a list of things!) will be able to separate us from the love of God, that comes to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He emphatically states, “Yet in all this we are more than conquerors because of Him who has loved us!” The last two lines of the Responsorial Psalm today are a wonderful lead-in to the Second Reading: “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”



A very strong setting of part of today's Second Reading, "Who Shall Separate Us?" by American composer John Ness Beck, can be heard on the compact disc, "Music for the Year of Matthew," recorded by the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter's in the Loop and published by The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN (www.litpress.org)