Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle A

MATTHEW 13:14-21
WHEN MY FAMILY WAS YOUNG AND WE WERE TRAVELING, WE WOULD FREQUENTLY STOP AT MACDONALDS, OR BURGER KING, OR SOMETIMES, WENDY'S. THE KIDS LIKED MACDONALD'S THE BEST, AND THE GRANDCHILDREN FOLLOW IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS. I LIKED IT BEST WHEN I TRAVELED WITH MY CHILDREN AS WELL, BUT NOT BECAUSE OF THE FOOD, THE PRIZES, OR THE PLAYGROUNDS. I LIKED IT BECAUSE IT WAS THE FASTEST FAST FOOD RESTAURANT. AT BURGER KING, IF I HAD IT MY WAY, THEY COOKED TO ORDER; AT MACDONALDS, THEY JUST GRABBED WHAT I WANTED OFF THE SHELF. AT WENDY'S TOO, EVERYTHING WAS MORE DELIBERATE AND TOOK LONGER. ON SUNDAYS AFTER CHURCH WE WOULD SOMETIMES GO TO FRIENDLY'S, WHERE THE FIFTEEN MINUTE WAIT FOR BREAKFAST WAS PUNCTUATED BY TRIPS TO THE BATHROOM, FIGHTS, THINGS DROPPED ON THE FLOOR. MACDONALD'S WAS A PARENT'S DREAM.
SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE “SUPERSIZE ME” WHICH WAS A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT A MAN WHO EATS NOTHING BUT FAST FOOD FOR A MONTH. AT THE END OF THAT TIME, HE SEEMS TO HAVE GAINED A LARGE AMOUNT OF WEIGHT, LOST HIS STAMINA, BECOME SHORT OF BREATH, AND IN GENERAL, AGED TEN YEARS. THE POINT WAS THAT FAST FOOD, AT LEAST AS A STEADY DIET, WAS NOT GOOD FOR YOU, I GUESS.
IN TODAY'S GOSPEL, JESUS FEEDS THE CROWDS SLOW FOOD. THINK ABOUT THE GOSPEL STORY. HE HAS GONE TO A DESERTED PLACE TO MOURN HIS COUSIN, JOHN. HIS HEART IS HEAVY, HIS EYES TEAR UP; BECAUSE JESUS IS A HUMAN BEING LIKE YOU AND I. BUT THE CROWDS HAVE FOLLOWED HIM, AND THEY JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH. SO JESUS PUTS ASIDE HIS GRIEF, AND BEGINS TO ATTEND TO THEM. HE HEALS THEIR SICK, ONE BY ONE, WITH A TOUCH, A KIND WORD; OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF HIS SADNESS, HE LIFTS THE SADNESS FROM OTHERS, SLOWLY, INDIVIDUALLY. HE PREACHES TO THEM AND TELLS THEM ABOUT THE KINGDOM, ABOUT THE FATHER OF MERCY AND LOVE AND TENDERNESS; ABOUT THE CERTAINTY THAT JUSTICE WILL BE DONE IN THE END, NOTHING ELSE WOULD DO FOR THE FATHER OF JUSTICE. AND THE DAY IS GETTING LONG, AND THE APOSTLES ARE GETTING WORRIED. “LORD,” THEY SAY, “YOU BETTER QUIT WHAT YOUR DOING AND LET THESE PEOPLE GET OUT OF HERE SO THEY CAN GET SOMETHING TO EAT BEFORE BEDTIME.” MAYBE THEY WERE THINKING THAT IT WAS TIME FOR THEM TO GET OUT OF THERE AND GET SOMETHING TO EAT BEFORE BEDTIME, AND THEY COULDN'T DO IT UNTIL JESUS STOPPED PREACHING AND HEALING.
THEY WANTED A QUICK SOLUTION TO THEIR PROBLEM. BUT JESUS ONLY FEEDS SLOW FOOD. “YOU FEED THEM,” JESUS SAYS TO HIS APOSTLES. AND THEN HE MAKES THE CROWD GET COMFORTABLE – THEY HAVE TO RECLINE, NOT EAT STANDING UP, NOT PUT FOOD IN THEIR MOUTHS WITH ONE HAND AND STEER THEIR CARS WITH THE OTHER. AND THEN VERY SLOWLY AND DELIBERATELY, HE TAKES THE BIT OF FOOD THAT THE APOSTLES HAVE ROUNDED UP, SAYS A NICE, DELIBERATE BLESSING, BREAKS IT UP AND HAS THE TWELVE GO OUT AND HAND EACH OF THE 5000 MEN, NOT COUNTING THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN, ENOUGH FOOD TO SATISFY ALL OF THEM. AND THEN AFTER THE LEISURELY MEAL, HE MAKES THEM GO BACK, AND THEY GATHER UP TWELVE BASKETS OF LEFT-OVERS. THIS FEEDING OF THE 5000 WAS MIRACULOUS, BUT THINK HOW MUCH TIME IT TOOK! SLOW FOOD. BUT SATISFYING FOOD, ABUNDANT FOOD, LEAVING THE CROWDS RUBBING THEIR BELLIES AND SMACKING THEIR LIPS AND NOT ABLE TO EAT ANOTHER BITE.
SOME OF US COME TO MASS ON SUNDAY AND WE WALK IN LATE AND LEAVE EARLY, OUR MINDS THINK ABOUT WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO AFTER MASS, OR ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE; AND THEN WE RECEIVE COMMUNION LIKE WE WOULD EAT A MEAL OF FAST FOOD, A BITE, A SWALLOW, AND OFF WE GO. AND WE NEVER ALLOW JESUS TO FILL US UP, TO SATISFY US, TO GIVE US THE DELIGHT THAT HE CAN GIVE US.
WHAT A MIRACLE IT WOULD BE IF WE WOULD SLOW DOWN WHEN WE RECEIVE THIS EUCHARIST, AND ALLOW JESUS TO SPEAK TO OUR HEARTS. WHAT A GRACE IF WE THOUGHT ABOUT HOW THE FATHER AND THE SPIRIT UNITE WITH THE SON AND WE FIND OURSELVES AT THE VERY CENTER OF THE TRINITY. IF WE WOULD STOP AND FEEL THE OVERWHELMING, EVEN FOOLISH LOVE THAT GOD SHOWS US WHEN HE GIVES US HIS SON JESUS TO BE OUR FOOD, WOULDN'T ANY PROBLEM TURN INTO NOTHING?
THE EUCHARIST IS THE VERY CENTER OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE, IT IS THE MOMENT WHEN GOD BREAKS INTO OUR WORLD, OUR LIVES, IT IS THE SOURCE OF POWER THAT ALLOWED MARTYRS TO LAUGH AT DEATH, AND THE SAINTS TO BE SUPERHEROES, DOING IMPOSSIBLE THINGS THAT CAN'T BE EXPLAINED ANY OTHER WAY. AND WE WHO ARE IN DESPERATE NEED OF THAT POWER PASS BY THIS SOURCE OF INFINITE POWER, THIS BLAZING SUN, WITHOUT EVEN PICKING UP A LITTLE OF THE LIGHT, THE HEAT, THE ENERGY.
IF YOU HUNGER FOR PATIENCE, JESUS WILL FEED YOU; IF YOU HUNGER FOR AN END TO ANGER, OR SADNESS OR DEPRESSION, HE HAS WHAT YOU NEED. DO YOU WANT FORGIVENESS? DO YOU WANT THE STRENGTH TO CARRY ON EVEN THOUGH NOTHING IS GOING WELL? IF YOU RECLINE AND WAIT, THE FOOD YOU LONG FOR WILL BE BROUGHT TO YOU.
GOD ONLY OFFERS FOOD THAT NOURISHES, THAT FILLS YOU UP, THAT SATISFIES THE HUNGER IN YOU, IF YOU TAKE THE TIME TO RECEIVE IT, IF YOU EAT IT SLOWLY AND DELIBERATELY, IN THE PRESENCE OF THE ONE WHO FEEDS YOU.
IF YOU ARE HERE FOR FAST FOOD, IF YOU GRAB YOUR LUNCH AND GET OUT OF HERE AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN, YOU WON'T GET MUCH OUT OF IT. YOU MAY BE SUPERSIZED, BUT YOU WON'T BE FED. IF YOU RECEIVE THE BREAD OF HEAVEN AND IN THAT MOMENT OPEN YOURSELF TO GOD'S LOVE, LISTEN TO HIS WHISPERED WORDS, SPEAK TO HIM FROM YOUR HEART, AND TAKE THE TIME TO LET HIM GIVE YOU THE FOOD YOU NEED, YOU WILL RECEIVE MORE THAN YOU EVER DREAMED OF, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT HE PROMISED, THAT IS WHAT HE DID FOR THOSE PEOPLE ON A HILLSIDE IN GALILEE 2000 YEARS AGO WHEN THEY RELAXED ON THE GRASS AND ATE THE SLOW FOOD THAT JESUS PREPARED FOR THEM WITH HIS OWN HANDS.