Cardinal’s Visit, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 25, 2021 – 2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15

Good morning. It’s a pleasure to be with you this morning here at St. Joseph’s. When our Holy Father, Pope Francis, declared this year a special year in devotion in honor of St. Joseph, I made a promise to myself that in all of the parishes that are under his patronage in my area of responsibility, I would try very hard to get to them and offer Mass in each and every one of the St. Joseph churches. So, I am so very grateful to your pastor, Father Madori, for allowing me to be with you today to fulfill my promise to St. Joseph, who is very dear to my heart and in my prayer life, and I try to model myself after his faithfulness each and every day.

But today is also, declared by our Holy Father, the World Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving for Grandparents. Isn’t that wonderful? It sure is. You deserve every day in honor of grandparents. But today, especially, the church throughout the world honors those very special people. And we’ll conclude our Prayer of the Faithful this morning with a prayer that was composed for this day. A special prayer in thanksgiving. A special prayer asking God’s blessings upon those who continue to form our lives, whether in person, or in the great treasure of our memory.

One of the great blessings of my life, growing up, is that I lived around the corner from my grandparents. And every day that I would walk to school, I would pass their home. And every afternoon after school I would stop in and spend time with them. And my grandfather, being from the old world, always had his main meal at lunch, so I had an ulterior motive, because, waiting for me every day after school, was a little dish on the stove. And that’s why I look the way I do. It’s my grandmother’s fault.

But they were very influential in my young life. And they continue to be, in the memory that I treasure. And, especially now in these summer days, I remember just being with my grandfather to go fishing, and how I treasured those times that were mostly quiet. He was a man of few words, but his actions spoke loudly.

It reminds us, doesn’t it, of St. Joseph? Not a single word that Joseph spoke, not a single word that he uttered, is given to us in the scriptures. Not one word. But we know very clearly his actions, don’t we? We know his actions.

But we also know Jesus’s actions. We know that Jesus is human and divine. And that human part of Jesus was formed in that holy house of Nazareth, where He was with Joseph and Mary, where He learned so much. And when you and I become more and more familiar with the gospels, we can see the influence of Joseph and Mary on Jesus’ life.

We see it particularly today as St. John begins, for us, this great teaching of Jesus, on the Eucharist. And He begins it with this feeding, this marvelous feeding of five thousand with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish. But there are things that Jesus does, that if we reflect, and use our spiritual imagination, we realize it probably came from Joseph. It probably came from Mary.

The gospels tell us He knew exactly what He was going to do. But He asked for whatever they could, to feed others. One could imagine, again our spiritual imagination, because of the goodness of Joseph and Mary, how often did Jesus see people come and knock at that holy door of Nazareth’s home, looking for food? And Mary was always ready to feed them. Joseph, who worked hard as a carpenter, as we well know, always provided bread for his family. But not only his family, but those who came to him because they were hungry. And they were never turned away, we can well imagine.

Jesus sees this large crowd, and He remembers what it was like growing up. How generous his parents were. So that generous heart is no surprise to us. But where He learned it, where He experienced it, was in that holy house of Nazareth. And then He takes those five loaves and two fish - and we know the truth of this because it plays out in our own lives each and every day. Five loaves and two fish are never enough, until you start to give it away. And when you are generous with the little you have, God blesses that generosity so that you will never be in want. Ever. We see it time and time again in the gospels. But if we look closely in our own lives, when you and I have emptied our pockets, the Lord fills them again. Time and time again.

Jesus knew this. He experienced it. He saw it in the life of Joseph and Mary, who were so generous. And now He is so generous in feeding us, not only with the bread of this world but, more importantly, with the Holy Eucharist, which is the bread of His love. The bread of His presence that sustains us and nourishes us, not only on this side of life, but for the life to come. For He promised that whoever eats His bread, eats His body. Whoever drinks this cup, drinks His blood. And they will have life eternal.

The great gift of our grandparents is that one day we will see them again. And the joy of that hopeful truth sustains us. When we will sit in that heavenly banquet and enjoy an abundance of God’s goodness and love. And for those of you who are grandparents now, keeping that truth in mind of who you are, where you’ve come from, and where you hope to go, will instill in your grandchildren a memory that they will cherish for the rest of their lives.

We thank God for the gift of faith. We thank God for those who have lived that faith in such a way that they have formed us and continue to form us. We thank God for the gift of Jesus, most particularly in the Eucharist, as He lives in us, here and now, with the promise of forever.