EMBRACING OUR SHARED HUMANITY AND CHAMPIONING SOCIAL INCLUSION AND JUSTICE INITIATIVES

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

Mark 6 :30-44

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹ Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

³² So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. ³³ But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

³⁵ By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. ³⁶ Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages^[a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

³⁸ “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

³⁹ Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

Reflection Question
Jesus has compassion on us.  He feeds our hungers.  What hungers have you become aware of in yourself today?  In those you have met?  What response is evoked in you by the persons whose hunger you have become aware of?

De La Salle’s Word
Meditation 194.

Consider that it is only too common for the working class and the poor to allow their children to live on their own, roaming all over as if they had no home, until they are able to be put to work. These parents have no concern to send their children to school because they are too poor to pay teachers or else they have to go out to look for work and leave their children to fend for themselves. The results of this condition are regrettable. They get accustomed to an idle life and have difficulty when it comes for them to work. In addition, through association with bad companions they learn to commit many sins, which later on are difficult to stop…

Reflection
What problem is De La Salle describing? What did he see were the causes of this problem? Effects? How is education in your school responding to this situation which De La Salle saw? What new concerns do young people today face that are not captured in this reflection? How is your school responding to this new concern?

God’s Word
Luke 4:14-21

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Reflection
Jesus is passionate about setting persons free from whatever prevents them from experiencing the fullness of life God has promised? How is the work of education a continuation of this mission? When did you experience in school being restored o sight?