SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Mark 8:1-10) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

“Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute.” (Mk 8:6)

FIRST READING - Genesis 3:9-24

A reading from the Book of Genesis

The LORD God called to Adam and asked him, "Where are you?"

He answered, "I heard you in the garden;

but I was afraid, because I was naked,

so I hid myself."

Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked?

You have eaten, then,

from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"

The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me—

she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it."

The LORD God then asked the woman,

"Why did you do such a thing?"

The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."

Then the LORD God said to the serpent:

"Because you have done this, you shall be banned

from all the animals

and from all the wild creatures;

On your belly shall you crawl,

and dirt shall you eat

all the days of your life.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

He will strike at your head,

while you strike at his heel."

To the woman he said:

"I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing;

in pain shall you bring forth children.

Yet your urge shall be for your husband,

and he shall be your master."

To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife

and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat,

"Cursed be the ground because of you!

In toil shall you eat its yield

all the days of your life.

Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you,

as you eat of the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your face

shall you get bread to eat,

Until you return to the ground,

from which you were taken;

For you are dirt,

and to dirt you shall return."

The man called his wife Eve,

because she became the mother of all the living.

For the man and his wife the LORD God made leather garments,

with which he clothed them.

Then the LORD God said: "See! The man has become like one of us,

knowing what is good and what is evil!

Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand

to take fruit from the tree of life also,

and thus eat of it and live forever."

The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden,

to till the ground from which he had been taken.

When he expelled the man,

he settled him east of the garden of Eden;

and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword,

to guard the way to the tree of life.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Mark 8:1-10

From the Gospel according to Mark

In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat,

Jesus summoned the disciples and said,

"My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,

because they have been with me now for three days

and have nothing to eat.

If I send them away hungry to their homes,

they will collapse on the way,

and some of them have come a great distance."

His disciples answered him, "Where can anyone get enough bread

to satisfy them here in this deserted place?"

Still he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"

They replied, "Seven."

He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.

Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them,

and gave them to his disciples to distribute,

and they distributed them to the crowd.

They also had a few fish.

He said the blessing over them

and ordered them distributed also.

They ate and were satisfied.

They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets.

There were about four thousand people.

He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples

and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Mark 8:1-10)

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

Dear People of God,

In today's Word of God, God wants to talk about His love for His sheep and apostles.

God loves everyone. He does not distinguish between anyone, and He wants His disciples to have hearts that can feel compassion for their brothers and sisters.

He wants everyone to pray:

Let the heart of God be placed in my heart, "so that I may live, yet not I, but Christ may live in me."

Thus, when we have God's heart, then everyone will know how to love the sick as God loves, and every day try to live and follow the teachings of God.

Today's Word of God says that the people stayed with God for three days to listen to His teachings without eating or drinking anything. Here, God wants to emphasize that when coming to God, we need to be closely connected with Him, and not pay attention to material things that nourish the body, because it is God's spirit that will nourish us. Next, is the multiplication of loaves by Jesus. With only seven loaves of bread, Jesus performed a miracle to feed about four thousand people and still had seven baskets of bread left over. The era of today is the era of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works continuously at each stage and in each different environment.

When the Holy Spirit is active, there is always the presence of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit working together, closely united as one; three persons but only one God.

Before performing the miracle of the multiplication of loaves, Jesus gave thanks to God the Father, then took the bread, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, so that they could give everyone the bread of God. He also wanted to emphasize the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in the daily Mass. He calls on everyone to know how to give thanks to God, to become a small piece of bread before God, and to be broken to give to others. That bread is not made by humans, but by God Himself who creates and bestows grace. When we receive grace from God, we must also know how to break it, and give it to others, and when breaking it, we must suffer; just as Jesus had to suffer pain, humiliation, and death, so His disciples must also suffer pain and humiliation so that the bread can become pure, complete, and pleasing to God.

In this time, the Word of God is being fulfilled regarding the gift of exorcism and the gift of healing that God gives to those chosen to be at the forefront of His plan of Sanctification to the Army of Light of God the Father, and those who believe in Him.

When God grants that grace, everyone must also be like bread, broken and given to others. Therefore, when praying to receive demons for the sick and sinners, these people must also suffer physical pain, must sacrifice, must endure humiliation, must be purified and pruned by God through beatings, as Saint Paul once said in his letter to the Hebrews: 'For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines; he scourges every son He acknowledges. For God's children to become like Him: we must empty ourselves, be deeply humble, and be willing to let go of everything, to offer to God the sacrifice of our souls and bodies. Then, we become powerful instruments for God and do well the work that God has given us to heal and exorcise the world and to save many souls for Him.

God has full authority over the entire universe. With His power, Satans only see His shadow, they must submit, and they must run away; But why does God give grace to mankind, so that mankind can cooperate with Him? Because of God's boundless love for humans. We must give thanks to God because He always creates opportunities for us to work with Him. After all, when working for God, is to atone for our sins in this life.

Therefore, we must always give thanks to God and live humbly before God and before our brothers and sisters every day of our lives, especially must know how to rejoice when God chooses to call us into His work of Sanctification, rejoicing in His grace of purification, and pruning to enjoy peace and happiness in this life and the next life in Heaven.

Thanks be to God. Amen.