Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Dear Friends,

Today we celebrate the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and the readings, psalm, and gospel are especially rich. I encourage you to take this bulletin home and spend time praying with each passage throughout the week. Together they circle around one central truth: God’s abundance and His steadfast love.

In the Gospel, we hear the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. What details do you notice? The disciples point out that they are in a deserted place, the day is ending, and there is no food. Their solution is practical but limited — send the people away so they can find something to eat on their own. Jesus doesn’t seem to give much notice to these hesitations or obstacles. Instead, He simply “took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it” to over 5,000. The scarcity the disciples perceived — and their man‑made solution to solve it — becomes the very place where Jesus reveals His ability to provide abundantly.

This leads us to two questions for prayer this week: 1. Where in my life do I assume scarcity when Jesus is actually offering abundance? 2. What small “loaves and fish” can I offer Jesus so He can multiply them?

As we think about offering our “loaves and fish” to Jesus, we can remember something simple and familiar. When I was a kid, I was taught to give my guardian angel all my joys and sufferings so that they could walk down the aisle during the Offertory at Mass and present them at the altar. Nothing we offer is too small for God. He receives it, blesses it, and makes it fruitful.

May we trust that the same Jesus who fed the crowd in the wilderness meets our scarcity with His abundance, and that whatever we place in His hands becomes more than enough.

Anthony Quinn
Young Adult Coordinator