Sincere Leadership

First Reading: Genesis 14:18-20

Melchizedek king of Salem brought bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High. He pronounced this blessing:

‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High for handing over your enemies to you.’ And Abram gave him a tithe of everything.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 109: 1-4

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26

This is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the same night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ In the same way he took the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.’ Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death.

Gospel: Luke 9:11-17

Jesus made the crowds welcome and talked to them about the kingdom of God; and he cured those who were in need of healing.

It was late afternoon when the Twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the people away, and they can go to the villages and farms round about to find lodging and food; for we are in a lonely place here.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we are to go ourselves and buy food for all these people’ For there were about five thousand men. But he said to his disciples, ‘Get them to sit down in parties of about fifty.’ They did so and made them all sit down. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven, and said the blessing over them; then he broke them and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the crowd. They all ate as much as they wanted, and when the scraps remaining were collected they filled twelve baskets.

 Reflection

By Fidji Rivera-Sarmiento

The Gospel for today is the only miracle chronicled in all of the four Gospels, which only proves its significance in the entire salvation history. It could really be that Jesus did all the multiplication. That was how I thought it was. Something like magic, and boom! Bread became so many and the fish magically appeared. However, some experts say that the actual miracle here is the act of generosity and the sharing per se. Historians theorized that Jesus’ followers actually had “baon” with them. Upon knowing that the Apostles only gathered five loaves of bread and two fish from a boy (as narrated in the Gospel of John), the early Christians brought out and shared what they had to everyone. Jesus instructed the Apostles to collect the leftover and they gathered twelve baskets more.

This only presents the basic human behavior of self-preservation. We all have that instinct to bring with us things we need when we travel, to save for ourselves during the rainy days, to keep what we need in order to survive, to be always certain that we have enough. But how many among us can be like that innocent boy who can be selfless enough to give out everything he had? Whether he was coaxed or intimidated by the Apostles, he was willing to give away what he had for that day. That boy presented a model of unconditional trust in Jesus. No questions, no conditions. That kind of utter dependence on the Lord to bless our efforts of goodwill.

This Gospel also points out our thirst for a genuine Church leader, from the parochial level to the entire Catholic flock. Pope John Paul said, “The more Christian and conscious people are of their dignity and of their vital role in the Church, the more they urgently feel the need for priests who are TRULY priests.” This is much evident during Cardinal Tagle’s rise to fame after Pope Benedict stepped down. It is not surprising that the Catholic Church would seek someone who is of young blood, someone who IS among us, someone who is not on a pedestal. With all the scandals a number of priests have committed, we cannot blame the doubters and those who leave our Church to seek for a more sincere leadership. But Pope Francis is not here to let us down. We can see how humble he is. His name choice is true to his character, like St. Francis who lived a sincerely simple life. He is doing his best to rebuild the kind of flock Jesus has originally instituted.

Most importantly, today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, or Corpus Christi, which literally meant the Body of Christ. It is usually celebrated during the Thursday after the Trinity Sunday, but was transferred today as reflected on the liturgical calendar. Today we all commemorate the institution of the Eucharist, the breaking of the bread, which is in fact Christ’s offering of Himself for the salvation of all. By participating in the Holy Mass, we become that which we actually celebrate. We become the Body of Christ.

Prayer

Jesus, our model of trust in God’s will, may we ever remember to put You on top of our needs. Human as we are, we tend to be selfish and be merely occupied on how we can acquire temporal desires, which do not seem to be always enough. We keep on wanting more, when in truth, we can live simple lives. May we channel this longing to be more generous, of not only our material possessions, but more importantly of ourselves. May we use our abilities for Your vineyard, the way You offered Your Body and Blood for humanity. Amen.