Give Them something to Eat

Fr. Raymond Lafontaine, E.V. - August 1, 2020

 

Dear Friends,

We come together on Sunday to be nourished – at the twin tables of God’s Word in Scripture, and the table of the Bread of Life which is the Eucharist. How fitting that on this day that we are re-opening the church for public worship at the Sunday 11 a.m. Mass, that we should be hearing the Gospel account of Jesus feeding the multitudes with the loaves and fishes!   

This is the only “miracle story” which is recounted by all four evangelists.  After healing the sick and teaching the crowds all day, Jesus senses also their need for physical nourishment.  The disciples want to send the crowds home for dinner, but Jesus has other plans: "They need not go away. You give them something to eat." 

You can sense the disciples’ panic: “He can’t be serious.  We only have five small loaves and two fish. That’s barely enough for us, let alone everyone else.”  But Jesus is adamant: take what you have, bring it to me, offer it, and then share it.  Trust in me to do the rest.

To us today, Jesus says the same thing.  We look around us, around our world, and we see so much hunger, so much injustice, so many needs, and so few resources to meet them.    The needs seem infinite, completely beyond us - and yet Jesus invites each of us to bring all that we have, and use it to nourish others. He takes it, blesses it, breaks it, and shares it.  And lo and behold – there is enough!

As we reopen for Sunday Mass, we are restricted in the number of people we can admit in a safe and secure manner, so pre-registration is necessary.  There are still places available for next Sunday, August 9, so if you want to attend in person, please register on the website or by phoning the parish office.  We would like to eventually resume the Saturday 4 PM Mass, but we need more volunteers to serve as greeters, ushers, and cleaners, so contact the office if you can help.

In the meantime, since for much of our congregation the online option remains the safer option, for now, we will continue to make this Mass available on Sundays at 10 AM on our  YouTube channel  We are in the process of upgrading the internet in the church and installing good-quality video cameras in the church so that eventually we can live-stream Sunday Mass directly. 

I was able to speak to Fr. Bertoli this week on FaceTime. He is still in the hospital but is improving.  He promises his prayers for us and asks you all to pray for him.

Special thanks to the Deconfinement Committee and all the volunteers for their tireless efforts in preparing the church for re-opening and form guaranteeing a safe and smooth in-person celebration of Mass this Sunday.

I will be on retreat this coming week and I promise to keep you all in my prayers as I spend a little quality time with the Lord.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Raymond