First Reading: Exodus 16:2 - 4, 12 - 15 | Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 78:3 - 4, 23 - 25, 54

Second Reading: Eph. 4:17, 20 - 24 | Gospel: Jn. 6:24 - 35

“For their hunger you gave them bread from heaven, and for their thirst you brought water for them out of the rock, ….” (Neh. 9:15)

Today we see the contrast between what Jesus offers and what they had received in the past. The Israelite community complains to Moses and Aaron as they starve in the desert. The Lord sends them quail in the evening (Nm. 11:31 - 32) and the “fine flakes” in the morning, the manna. Psalm 78 summarizes the history of Israel. Manna, the “bread of angels” satisfied every taste and yearning.

Now Jesus begins his Discourse on the “Bread of Life,” the true bread from heaven, which comes down and “gives life to the world.” The Jews raise their quest for immortality, so in response he bluntly proclaims: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” He proclaimed the same to the woman at the well. “but those who drink of the water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing forth to eternal life.” (Jn. 4:14) He satisfies every hunger and thirst. As a reference to the reality of this “bread from heaven,” in an article on Eucharist in Wikipedia, we read:

"Real Spiritual presence", also called "pneumatic presence", holds that not only the Spirit of Christ, but also the true body and blood of Jesus Christ (hence "real"), are received by the sovereign, mysterious, and miraculous power of the Holy Spirit (hence "spiritual"), but only by those partakers who have faith.

So as we believe, and we receive the “true bread,” we should put on the “new self,” as St. Paul says (Eph. 4:24}.

By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)

First Reading: 2 Kgs. 4:42 - 44 | Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 145:10 – 11, 15 - 18

Second Reading: Eph. 4:1- 6 | Gospel: Jn. 6:1 – 15

“Our Father, ……give us this day our daily bread,” a REAL fulfillment. How amazing that it is fulfilled, prophesied, and became a reality from the time of Moses (Ex. 16:4 – 16; Nm. 11:13) to the time of king Jehoram (849 – 842 BC) before the fall of Jerusalem, when Elisha feeds one hundred people (2 Kgs. 4:42 – 44), to Jesus feeding five thousand and feeding us daily. What in Is. 25:6 “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of rich food and choice wines” was a prophecy in metaphor, became a reality. This miracle of Jesus, happens shortly before the Last Supper. So we see how it anticipates the institution of the Eucharist, as well as the eschatological banquet of the Son at the end of time (Matt. 22:1 - 14). Jesus’ question to Philip, echoes Moses’ complaints to God (Nm. 11:11 - 13). “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” (Jn. 6:5) Yet Jesus will not tolerate his disciples lack of trust to let the people go hungry. The Provider feeds them all. We are radically dependent on God and his mercy.

Again the metaphor of Psalm 23 becomes a reality here. “The Lord is my shepherd. He makes me lie down in green pastures; … You spread the table before me ….” As for sheep, the grass is food and bed.

Then Jesus orders his disciples to “gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” That is what is done even today after each Eucharistic celebration. Not only we consider every fragment as part of the Body of Christ and sacred, they signify our unity “one body and one spirit,” as St. Paul says (Eph. 4:4).

By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)

First Reading: Jeremiah 23:1 - 6 | Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 23
Second Reading: Eph. 2:13 - 18 | Gospel: Mk. 6:30 - 34

Jeremiah after a “woe oracle,” has a promise of a “righteous shoot to David.” The shoot or branch is a messianic title as well as “shepherd,” a symbol for kings (Is. 11.1; Ez. 34:1 - 31). The Good Shepherd will come and they name him “The Lord our Justice,” in Hebrew tsedeq.

The message of Ephesians is also the peace offered by Jesus, the King, between the Jews and the Gentiles, breaking down the wall of enmity, leading to one humanity with access to the Father.

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” (Mk. 6:31) An invitation to a holy rest. We all need that, yet not all of us can become a monk or a nun! The internal act of purification and contemplation leads to an external act of charity and compassion. Prayer produces a mission and communion with God, so that we see others as God sees them. In the following passage, Jesus feeds five thousand “men,” possibly ten thousand counting the women! That is the charity. Fr. Simeon (Erasmo Leiva Merikakis) in his book, “Fire of Mercy” points to this act of compassion as “the stirring of the splanchna, or inward parts,” the Semitic and Greek idiom for the movement of compassion flowing from a person. Splanchna also means womb, “suggesting that the Christian act of mercy is at bottom an act that confers life.” “Christian compassion is an instinctual movement of the person who has become connatural with God through contemplation.”

By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)

First Reading: Amos7:12 - 15 | Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 85:8a, 9 - 13
Second Reading: Eph. 1:3 - 14 | Gospel: Mk. 6:7 - 13 

Here is Jesus’ program for evangelization! In general there is often a mistrust and mis-understanding of evangelization, like asking: how can we share our faith without “shoveling it down people’s throats?”  Is it not like colonialism, nationalism, imperialism, from the Crusades until now?  In a religiously pluralistic world, does it not contribute to international hostility? To answer some of these we turn to some of the encyclicals of Popes since Vatican II.  

Evangelization as Jesus sets us the example, includes preaching, teaching and healing.  Many saints have started the healing process first, like St. Damian “the leper,” and the evangelization has happened naturally. Many begin the process by teaching first. In the past proclamation and preaching were the first steps.  Pope Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi (1), and John Paul II in Redemptoris Missio (2) invite all Christians to renew their missionary commitment. 

Pope John Paul II says:  “God is opening before the Church the horizons of a humanity more fully prepared for the sowing of the Gospel.” 

Amos was called out of the land of Judah at the time of King Jeroboam II (786 -746 BC), to go to the north and prophesize to Israelites. So Amaziah defending the king, commands him to go back to Judah. An evangelizer risks his life and is rejected. Jesus sends his apostles, clothed only by their election, their only tunic to wear. The mission itself is their reward. The forerunner, like John the Baptist, must be utterly poor, to convey the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven. We see this kind of poverty, even today among the missionaries who go to poor countries. St. Vincent de Paul, also quotes Job: 

       “I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy …” (Job. 29:15 -16)  

1. www.vatican.va/.../hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi_en.html
2. www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf..

By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)

First Reading: Ez. 2:2 - 5 |Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 123 |Second Reading: 2 Cor. 12:7 - 12 |Gospel: Mk. 6:1 – 6

The readings of today point out to the problem of rejection and familiarity. “Familiarity breeds contempt”, says Shakespeare. The seed, the Word, was planted in Nazareth, but Nazarenes refuse to be healed and saved by the son of the carpenter, and his mother Maryàm, who lived up the street. In Wis. 13:11 – 12, we read how a skilled carpenter can “make a useful vessel that serves life’s needs...”, yet the following verses continue in making idols. Similar to the image of the Potter and the clay, that is us (Is. 64:8), Joseph, the good carpenter has formed the vessel of Life, Jesus.

Nazareth was the locus, epicenter of the church. Where the Holy Family lived, there was the church. Are we one of those Nazarenes, who refuse to honor Jesus’ words? Attending Mass as a rudimentary duty? Or are we like Ezekiel, allowing the spirit to enter us and set us on our feet?

In this passage Mark stresses on the humanity of Jesus, as well. I as a convert, like St. Edith Stein (Teresia Benedicta of the Cross) and others, have felt the pain of rejection among our own, or at the most tolerance. Where one hopes to find solace and comfort, one finds rejection. Many parents, too, have felt this by the refusal of their grown up children. So we pray in Ps. 123:2,

“As the eyes of a maid are on the hand of her mistress, so are our eyes on the Lord, our God, till he has mercy on us.”

By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)

First Reading: Wis. 1:13-15; 2:23-24 |Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 30:1, 3-5, 11-12 | Second Reading: 2 Cor. 8:7, 9, 13 - 15 | Gospel: Mk. 5:21 - 43

Today we have a sandwich of two miracles. The healing of the Jairus’s daughter, is the sustenance of the faith, like the bread, and the healing of the woman with hemorrhage is the delicacy of it. Jesus will not heal, unless they have faith in his power. Perhaps many people like myself, have had this experience: walking into a church, gazing at the crucifix and reciting the words of this woman: “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well. Mk. 5:28”

As the first reading from Wisdom indicates, God is the God who gives life in his image, and not death. We have two parallel stories in OT. In 1Kg. 17:17 - 24, prophet Elijah revives the widow’s son by laying on him, stretching his arms and breathing into his nostrils. Similarly his successor Elisha revives the Shunammites woman’s son, doing the same, 2Kg. 4:18 - 37. An atheist can claim these two miracles as giving CPR! However Jesus does this only by a Divine command: “Talitha koum (little girl arise!)” Mk.5:41 Is there any doubt that miracles happen when there is faith and total surrender?

In many of Jesus teachings, we read how he negates the Jewish ritual purification. The case of this woman with hemorrhage is a stark example of it. She is in a state of “ritual impurity” (Lev. 12:1 - 8; 15:19 - 30), which require social distancing, yet she goes forward and touches Jesus’s cloths. She is healed, and Jesus gives her the common Semitic farewell, indicating wholeness: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; Go in peace. …” Mk. 5:34

By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk. 4:38) This is the same complaint that Job did to God, his lifelong friend. It is only in Ch. 38, that God begins to talk to Job. We are in the same boat with him and with Jesus. We trust him and enter the rickety boat over the deep waters. So now he is putting us through the test. Jesus is teaching his disciples and us to break with our past and totally surrender to his will. That is when he can save us from the troubled waters of our lives. The chaos monster (Leviathan: Jb. 41), moves about under constraints of our faith and trust in God. This is a Christian’s vocation, not to be exposed as unworthy, untrusting follower of Jesus. I quote a couple of sentences from Elsa Tamez’s article in Wolde, E. J. Job's God. London: SCM Press, 2004, pp. 103 104: “Let us allow God to appear before us and give an account of his silences. … But without these mysterious silences of God we cannot be human. …. When God remains silent and human beings weep, God weeps in solidarity with them, but he does not intervene; he waits for their cry of protest.” So Jesus sleeps, until we protest and beg for his intervention. God, who is sleep, is also present, and he hears us. He hears the cry of the poor (Ps. 34).

By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)

I remember years ago, for a ceremony to enroll some candidates, to receive the Brown Scapular, I purchased a pack of Mustard seeds, and put some for each in a welcoming card, with some instructions: “Now you go and plant these in the Garden of God.” In the OT, the majestic cedar, is a metaphor for Israel, planted on the high mountains (Ez. 17.22, Dn. 4:10 12). It does refer to the restoration of the Davidic house (Is. 11.1, Jer. 23:5 6; 33.15). The cedar of Lebanon does not grow in Israel, but the Mustard bush does as well, protecting all the birds, and providing shelter and shade. “God delights in what is small and hidden. In Jesus mind, the Kingdom and smallness always go hand in hand. Mt. 18:3,” says Fr. Simeon (Erasmo LeivaMerikakis). That was the pattern of St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s life, and other contemplatives. They remained hidden, like the seed, and flourished like a majestic tree. From the small Word planted in Mary, the eternal King came as our Savior. So let us manure the Seed, proclaim it with our lives, and let it grow in the world, as the yeast in a batch of flour. This is our duty to evangelize those who cross our path.

By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)