· 18th (A) Ordinary Time, July 31, 2005
· Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola
· Theme: “Give Them Some Food Yourselves”

· The theme of providing nourishment stands out in today’s readings
· 1st reading from the Prophet Isaiah:
· “Come, receive grain and eat… drink wine and milk.”
· “I will renew you with the everlasting covenant”
· Nourishment of Food and Drink
· Even more importantly, nourishment for soul and spirit
· In the Gospel, Matthew tells his version of the Feeding of the Multitudes.
· It is again a story of nourishment: both for the body and the spirit
· The feeding of the multitude occurs more frequently than any other episode in the four Gospels—six times in all.
· This testifies to its importance for the early community, an importance due to its connection with the Eucharist.
· Whereas we tend to see the origin of the Eucharist exclusively in the Last Supper, the early Church laid at least as much stress on Jesus’ eating with his disciples in Galilee, to say nothing of the post-resurrection meals. (cf. Fuller: Preaching the Lectionary)
· In Matthew’s account we hear many words that make the connection to our Eucharistic celebration:
· “Take,” “Looked up to Heaven,” “Blessed,” “Broke,” “Gave,” “Ate”
· There is no doubt that Eucharist has something to do with nourishing God’s people.
· In the story it is noteworthy that Jesus commissioned his disciples to be the ones to nourish the multitude..
· In our discipleship of Jesus, how do we carry out this commission to nourish God’s people?
· I would like to offer two reflections in response to this question.

· Today, July 31, is the Feast Day of Ignatius Loyola.
· Since Blessed Sacrament has been a Jesuit parish for the past 91 years, I would like to share a word about the founder of the Society of Jesus, and how he lived out the commission to nourish God’s people.
· Let me simply quote from a recent letter of Fr. Tom Smolich, the Jesuit Provincial concerning Ignatius:
· “This Sunday, the Society of Jesus celebrates the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola: follower of Jesus, mystic, founder, guide of souls.
· All who know even the barest outlines of his life are aware of the ironies in God’s call to him.
· He went from being an established courtier to studying Latin with grammar-school children when he was in his thirties.
· Through the Spiritual Exercises, he formed a group of companions with the mission of serving the Church in Jerusalem; they never got there.
· The Society of Jesus rejected stability and was created to go wherever the need was greatest; Ignatius never left Rome once becoming the Superior General.
· Ignatius was a priestly minister beyond compare, yet spent the last sixteen years of his life administrating the Society and writing his Constitutions.
· In the midst of these ironies, Ignatius experienced God in the very fiber of his world.”
· I would say, that in his attempt to find God in all things and in all people, Ignatius lived out his call to discipleship;
· He nourished the Society of Jesus into being.
· In those sixteen years as Superior General, he saw the Jesuits grow from the eight original companions to 1000 priests and brothers who were spread all over the known world.
· I am proud of the Ignatian tradition that we have here at Blessed Sacrament, a tradition that invites us to nourish God’s people in body and spirit by building on our history, by looking toward the future, and by finding God in all thing.

· The Second reflection has to do with a meeting I had this last week that moved me deeply.
· Rabbi Daniel Korobkin – an Orthodox Rabbi – called to ask if we could meet to address some of the tensions that seemed to exist between the Orthodox and Christian communities, especially around the construction of a Synagogue on Highland and 3rd.
· With the help of local Organizing Committee (which used to be called HISC, and has now expanded to a broader area and is called L. A. Voice), we set up a small meeting of clergy.
· Rabbi Korobkin – a very impressive man – is a devout Jew, intelligent and compassionate
· He admitted that the Orthodox community could be insular and self-serving.
· He also admitted that it was important for the Orthodox community to reach out to the broader community of the area.
· A moving point in the meeting came when Rev. Mark Rasbach, pastor of Hope Lutheran Church, recounted the story of how his church had been torched by arsonists in the 1970s.
· His congregation had to rebuild not only their building but also their spirit.
· We ate together and we nourished our bodies in simple meal, and we shared stories that nourished our spirits.
· At the end of the meal, Rabbi Korobkin told us that Orthodox Jews were not allowed to pray with people of other faiths, so he asked us all to share a moment of individual prayer.
· We did, and then I commented that we Christians had prayed from him. He said, “And I prayed for you.”

· As we continue with our Liturgy today let us pray in thanksgiving for all who take steps – Big steps or Little steps – to nourish God’s people.
· Let us pray also that as the Body and Blood of the Lord in this Eucharist nourishes us, we may be empowered to find ways to nourish a famished world.

· Amen

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