A Homily for Laetare Sunday

+ As the Gospel informs us, the Jews wanted to crown Christ king, but only because He gave them the bread they wanted without their having to work for it. They sought Him only for the immediate material benefits He could provide. Our Lord fled such treatment as unworthy. The bread he provided was rather in recompense for their having made the effort to contemplate Him and the words He had to say in the wilderness. Without that bread they would not have had the strength to get home. St John’s presentation of the seven signs of Our Lord is, nonetheless, clear. The miracles that are worked to manifest to the people who He is. Seeking to crown Him for the food that was given to them is in fact the antithesis of what was taught by this miracle.

Whilst the miracles of Christ, especially as recounted by the other Evangelists, often remove ailments from which somebody suffers, we must not follow Christ for our comfort, bodily or otherwise. The Church cannot be used as an instrument to provide for some material good that I want. This is the base of the sin of simony. Whilst simony is properly speaking the attempted purchase of grace, be it through relics, indulgences, or sacraments, etc., it is perfectly possible to make the purchase in kind. How often do we hear of curial officials promised a mitre in exchange for some service rendered to a higher authority? By analogy, simony can be applied to using the church for any other material benefit that might seem desirable. “Go to Mass in Spanish” they say, for example, “that you might learn Spanish”. No, we go to Mass only to worship and glorify God. We make the effort to participate in the Mass for its own sake only – not for some other end.

By feeding five thousand in the wilderness, Christ demonstrates that the workman deserves his wages (Luke 10:7). Material goods are necessary for our well-being as much as to undertake the work which God has given us. Those who have left everything to follow Christ still need to have what is necessary to undertake their work, even whilst realising that the work is not for their own personal benefit. How perfectly St Paul demonstrates this point. He has earned his bread from the preaching of the Gospel, yet he continues to make his living by making tents not wanting to be a burden on those to whom he is preaching (cf. Acts 18:3, II Cor. 12:13-16). The apostle holds nothing back for himself, assuring that his tireless preaching does nothing to cause undue discomfort to his hosts.

It is in imitation of this apostolic example that monks have never made a vow of poverty. The monastery cannot give what it does not have. Whether it be rooms and food for hospitality or a library to assure the brethren can provide spiritual nourishment fostered in the riches of the tradition. A monastery works that she can give of what has been produced. Even whilst dependant on benefactions they are received so the monastery can give of itself ever more generously to the service of the Church and her supernatural ends.

Through this miracle of feeding the five thousand, Our Lord is teaching us far more than the correct use of material goods. The contemplation of God, the seeking of divine justice is a work which must be placed before all else if we are to truly serve God and His Church. This is the bread of life without which we cannot live. But more substantially still Our Lord uses this miracle as an introduction to His great Eucharistic discourse. “Unless you eat my flesh”, He says, “and drink my blood you have no life in you” (John 6:53). These words would scandalise the majority of His listeners, who left Him, yet St Peter would respond to the invitation to depart saying, “where else would we go you have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Only the True and everlasting bread could suffice. Those who in fact stayed with Him knew Our Lord as God: they would never dream of crowning Him just for their bread. +