Taking vs Receiving
Feb. 15: Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Adam and Eve took what they wanted, in defiance of God’s commands, because they thought they knew better. The crowds in today’s Gospel don’t take anything, as if it’s owed them; they receive Christ’s freely given gift of loaves and fish.
God gave us free will, but we should use that to cooperate with His plan, not go against it.
Reading 1
Gen 3:9-24
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.
The three punishments described at the end of the “Fall of Man” share something in common—they demonstrate that the consequences of sin are not only personal, but communal. Adam and Eve’s relationship will forever be fraught because of what they did; their children and descendants will have to work and labor in ways they themselves didn’t have to. Every generation can make things better or worse for their children, depending on how the follow God’s plans.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 90:2, 3-4abc, 5-6, 12-13
R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Before the mountains were begotten
and the earth and the world were brought forth,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, "Return, O children of men."
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
We often only see the near-term effects of our actions, but God, being outside of time, sees how the consequences ripple out through the generations. We have to trust in God’s Wisdom, because He sees and knows much more than we ever can. Even simple rules (“Don’t eat this fruit”) are there for a reason.
Alleluia
Mt 4:4b
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Notice the word “alone.” God made us with bodies as well as souls, and knows that we need to feed both.
Gospel
Mk 8:1-10
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.
The feeding of the five thousand is the only public miracle recorded in all four Gospels. There are details which are different, however; Matthew doesn’t mention dividing the fish, for example. It’s because breaking the bread is what’s important—it’s a sign of the eucharistic meal to come.