Reflection from Fr. Justus Alaeto
Eighteenth Sunday Year A
The Crowd followed Jesus on foot to deserted place and they were miraculously fed by Jesus, through the Most Holy Eucharist!

After Jesus withdrew to a deserted place today, the Scripture says, the crowd followed Him on foot to that deserted place. / That is something we need to ponder today. The crowd followed Jesus to that deserted place! /

Important Question there is: what motivated the crowd to follow Jesus to that deserted place? Not food! They crowd were yearning for something deeper, for something more spiritual and fulfilling to the heart.

Probably, it was clear to the crowd that life is meaningless without the presence of Jesus. The absence of the presence of God is a big hunger. The presence of Jesus was particularly important for their souls at that point. The crowd followed Jesus, to discover a deeper sense of humanity, informed by the presence and life of Jesus Christ. According to the Gospel message today, they were miraculously fed. Jesus fed both their body and spiritually hunger. If they had not followed Jesus and encountered him, they would have not been fed or transformed.

The spiritual challenge there is, what do we do when life feels empty, depressed, lonely, even in time of sickness, hunger, stress, unhappy etc……. what do we look for? What am I doing to nourish my spiritual life every day? Do I feed my spiritual life always from the action of the Most Holy Eucharist? Do I truly value the Mass as highest of all prayers? Do I really trust and live by the words of Jesus, and the teaching of the Church?

The action of the crowd today, taught us that in all circumstances of life, we are to seek first, the presence of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist.  We are to search for the mind of Jesus, so that we get spiritually nourished and well fed. Life will profoundly change to good if we embark on the life of Christ, deeply informed by participation in the Most Holy Eucharist.

St. Ignatius of Loyola was struck and nourished by the Grace of God when at a time, life became so helpless and meaningless for him. He just started reading a book called The Life of Christ, written by Ludolfo (a Carthusian monk), and another book called The Life of the Saints, written by Giacomo da Varazze. Through them Grace struck him. He started thinking about becoming like St. Francis Assisi, St. Dominic, and other saints. Life started changing for him and new transformed life starting flourishing from him. In the past he was from a noble family and never gave much thought about God, until life’s situation at some point subjected him to a kind of meaningless, until picked up those books and started with Jesus. His vision changed towards service to God. He knelt before the picture of our Blessed Mother, Virgin Mary and dedicated himself entirely to her. The Holy Eucharist was priority for him, and the spiritual exercises of spiritual discernment. Today, he recognized in Heaven and on earth as one of the remarkable saints, who made great impart in the church. The power of the most Holy Eucharist!

Today, Jesus made the crowd to know that the Holy Eucharist is the center of our worship. The source and summit of our lives. At the celebration of the Holy Mass is the only time, our souls are powerfully nourished, and properly transformed for God. Jesus did not just feed the crowd with regular food, Jesus also nourished their minds, their hearts, and their spirit. The Mass we say all the time, nourishes our minds, our hearts, and our spirit. Every Catholic supposed to hunger with great burning zeal to go to Mass, except if you are sick.

When we miss Mass, we are missed a lot in life. When we miss Mass, we missed getting our hearts, minds, and spirit nourished, we missed Jesus leading prayer on our behalf to the Father. We missed participating as one body of Christ, with heaven and earth at the same time, we missed transformation of our life and forgiveness of sins, we missed Jesus’ command at the last supper; DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. And there is no amount of prayer we can say that is greater than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Jesus said, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you. In other words, the Holy Mass, is the covenant that unites us with Jesus. The Holy Mass is the only tangible event that enables us encounter Jesus practically and tangibly, in Sacramental form. Above all, the Holy Mass is where we encounter the care and love of God, and we are show the care and love to others.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus has revealed to us through the miracle of feeding thousands of people with only five loaves, and two fish, about the beauty and power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He has revealed to us, the Sacredness of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In its Sacred sense, our lives, spirit, hearts, soul, and body, are being elevated to God, and we are being blessed, nourished, and transformed. Our needs are being offered to God at Mass, and He takes care of them, and we regain new life. Like the crowd in the Gospel today, let us resolve to go and meet Jesus at the Altar of the Most Holy Eucharist. There we shall encounter Him in the breaking of the Bread. He will hear all our prayers with compassion and love, and He will nourish and transform us.