Independence Day! 

Yet are we not, as believers, totally dependent upon God for our very existence? 

When Christ called us to follow Him we agreed to a radical dependence! A total reliance on God and one another, for he sends His disciples out two by two.

But I ask: Do we truly recognize our dependence upon God? Are we Americans first, then followers of the Gospel? Which messengers are we following? FOX, MSNBC, the National Enquirer, Cosmopolitan – or Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?

The world says that the more we have, then the better off we are! The world says to consume and use whatever we can to make a name for ourselves. If I can just get that new car or a bigger house or whatever it is, then I’ll be somebody! 

Advertisers spend billions of dollars every year telling us that we need their products to make us acceptable and help us achieve more! Right? Isn’t that right?

But Jesus tells us today to live simply and not be weighed down with all that extra stuff and not allow our possessions to possess us! So maybe that’s the whole point of the gospel message – that we have become so independent-minded, that we are actually too dependent upon the wrong things and not dependent enough on God.

Christ commands us to live radically simple lives, relying less on things, and relying more on Him and one another; not asserting so much our independence as our interdependence upon one another.

This means that we cannot live simply or only as Americans or citizens of the U.S., though that we are, but our worldview must be focused on the Cross of Christ! Christ’s worldview turns the world’s view upside down.

So I ask are we Catholics first, then Americans, or have we allowed American values to dictate what parts of the gospel we like and discard what doesn’t seem to fit our political agenda?

Christ calls all people to himself. And so has the United States in her history. 

Can we imagine what it would be to leave everything we know, leaving our native land and immigrating here with a different language? The people that made the journey to the United States often had little more than a dream in their heart and a hole in their pocket. Many were literally penniless, having sold all they had to simply purchase the ticket to sail on the boat, and with no real guarantee they would be granted entry or survive in the New World. And these exiles, arriving here tattered and torn, with a few words of English, set out to begin a new life. Many of these exiles had nothing to speak of, no money bag, no extra pair of shoes, but only the clothes on their backs. And for many the first sight they beheld upon arriving here was the Statue of liberty.

The image that comes to mind for many of us on this Independence Day weekend is the Statue of Liberty, a universal symbol of freedom and democracy.

The bronze plaque on the Statue of Liberty’s giant pedestal calls her the Mother of Exiles.

How many souls long to belong, long for welcome in this world of ours, and imagine all those who journeyed here to the U.S., whose first sight was the Mother of Exiles, Lady Liberty.

The plaque reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free!

Interestingly, the name "Mother of Exiles" was never taken up as the Statue of Liberty’s name, even though it is engraved in bronze. Yet as Catholics our Blessed Mother and Mother Church herself have both been called “Mother of Exiles”. And isn’t this the hope of all exiles, that they will find welcome and rest and a home?

Yet in a way, as Catholics, we are exiles in this world. If we live by gospel values, we may well be exiled by our neighbors or even our friends. Some may say of us that we’ve gone too far with our faith in Jesus business, that we are unpatriotic to the point where we place gospel values above American values. It is certainly an interesting thought to imagine that the Statue of Liberty is calling us to be better Americans and in the process better Christian, better Catholics.

So if we are marked by the sign of the cross, then we can expect suffering, rejections, and crucifixion. Not everyone can or will accept the gospel cross. We will be judged as fools for Christ. We will be going against the popular opinion. Yet we recognize that Only in God is our soul at rest; our true fulfillment will not be in any political party, except the party of Christ. Our independence day is celebrated on Good Friday. St. Paul encourages us to find our freedom in the cross of Christ.

Finding rest in Christ, recognizing His Mother as our Mother, and knowing that the Church herself is the Mother of Exiles, is truly liberating! The irony of today is that our true independence is found in our dependence upon God, Christ, Mary, the Church, indeed our dependence upon one another.

There is no such thing as a lone Christian. We are in this together. And just as Jesus instructed his disciples, he continues to instruct us that we must trust in God for our defense and depend upon the hospitality of others for our well being. And this is what we celebrate today: our Dependence upon God and dependence upon one another. God alone is enough.

But if God alone is too much for our neighbors or family to handle, if believing in Christ and following the gospel somehow makes us less patriotic than other Americans, then let us repeat the words of Patrick Henry: “If this be treason, let us make the most of it!”

A Tale of Two Banquets

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A

THE SCRIPTURAL READINGS FOR THE DAY

Like Charles' Dickens' novel, A TALE OF TWO CITIES, today's scriptures reveal to us a tale of two banquets.

The gospel begins immediately after the first banquet, which was held by King Herod to celebrate his birthday.


But Herod's banquet was all about the invited guests and their desire for power, food, drink, and pleasure only for themselves - and it ended with a dancing girl requesting the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter.

This is where our gospel story begins today. "When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place" in sorrow and grief.

Yet when Jesus disembarks the vessel, he sees the vast crowd and his heart is moved with pity and he cures their sick.

This is the beginning of the second banquet. A vast crowd following Christ longing for life.

But Jesus wanted to be alone. He was grieving the death of his cousin. Jesus had come to find peace and quiet, but instead he found needy and hungry people who were longing for life and were heavily burdened.

In our limited human minds and frigid hearts we want to draw boundary lines, as if there is a fenced off area that says: "Mercy stops here. 

When the disciples realize the only food to be found for the hungry crowd was five barley loaves and two skinny fish, they tell Jesus, "Send the people away." Scatter the crowd. Dismiss these people. Send them packing. Let them fend for themselves, Jesus! 

There is a very real temptation for all of us to look elsewhere in the hope that the poor and needy and hungry will solve their own problems or that someone else will help them.  Dismissing others is so much easier than having to deal with their needs or problems.

Yet when he saw the crowds, he did NOT say: "Go away! Be quiet and don't bother me: I'm praying." And send those women and children away! They're sick and poor and hungry. It's their problem, not mine."  Jesus sets aside his own personal feelings and needs for those of the crowd, for there are no borders or boundaries with Jesus.

Jesus sets an example for his disciples and the Church and says:  "No."

He dismisses the disciples' fear with faith.

Jesus challenges his disciples - and us - "There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” 

 We are often tempted to want to do things our own way and fail to pay attention to the needs of others. 

 So can we imagine the disciples' reactions when Jesus told them to give the people something to eat themselves?!

"But Lord, five loaves and two fish for 5000 men – not including all the women and children?! How are you ever going to break that bread into such small pieces? And the fish – well, forget that!

Jesus  said, “Bring them here to me." So Jesus says, no, we must stay together. And care for one another, no matter how different or needy we are, or how hungry we are.

If we truly believe that God cares for and loves everyone, then each of us who claim to be Christ's disciples - his ambassadors - must care for and love the ones that Christ cares for and loves.

It is tempting to find other people a nuisance or a problem. 

Yet Jesus is teaching us that what we consider distractions and inconveniences may well be our true callings, our vocations.

If we are merely content to keep our faith confined to this church building and we are merely content to go to Mass, but not concern ourselves with the needs of others and issues of justice, then we are missing the full gospel message of Christ.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God had called his people to the banquet: "Come, eat! You shall delight in rich fare."

So Jesus then took the five loaves and the two fish, said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. 

This was a repeat of manna in the wilderness with Moses. The people of Jesus' day would not have missed this. The Jews also believed that manna would return with the coming of the Messiah. And this event  foreshadows the Eucharist when the disciples reclined at table.

Note that Jesus gives the loaves to his disciples - who then in turn distribute the food to the people. Jesus uses intermediaries, human agents, the members of His Church, to convey God's grace. 

Those who received the morsel of bread were strengthened for their journey. It was the miracle of Christ's presence.

And just as the Lord feeds us in the Eucharist, we feed each other in our community. 

Jesus calls us to be united, even in our suffering and difficulty, to stay together in the communal life. For if we are the body of Christ, if we are the Church, then we have a responsibility for each other, and the world.

 The example of the disciples giving Jesus the five loaves and two fish has great significance for us: If we give Christ our faith, our love, our gifts, and our compassion, no matter how insignificant we may think they are, our gifts will be multiplied beyond our belief.

Christ calls each us to share what little we have and promises us that there will be enough - and more than enough - leftovers! Little is always much in the hands of the Lord.

Will we have the courage to realize that our weakness can be taken, blessed, broken and shared?!

We often expect the dramatic, a large banquet, but we are nourished by simple food, the ordinariness of daily life: a visit with a neighbor - a former student or co-worker lets you know that you influenced his or her life with your commitment and kindness.

The simple sharing of a meal, a cool refreshing cup of cold water, an unexpected call, an unexpected visit, or a kind word over coffee can be transformed into a banquet of love to those we meet.

Christ Jesus can take our small gifts of five loaves and two fish and transform them, bless them, and multiply them beyond our imaginings - if we move from fear to faith. And in faith he will feed us and then we in turn can feed one another. 

Come, then, let us hasten to the Eucharistic banquet of the Lord!