Today, 22nd of February, we celebrate
The Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle
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
R./ 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.
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.
Leía el otro día que aproximadamente un tercio de la humanidad tiene a día de hoy problemas para mantener un nivel básico de nutrición. Es decir, se mueven justo en el límite. Cada día es una lucha por conseguir el pan o el arroz necesarios para mantenerse. Cada día sienten la inseguridad de lo que puede suceder mañana. Una parte de este tercio es que realmente no llega al mínimo y experimenta la desnutrición con todas sus consecuencias para la salud.
Frente a ese tercio está el otro tercio que lo que tienen (me atrevería a decir “tenemos”, aunque no estoy ni mucho menos seguro de que todos los lectores estén en este grupo) son problemas de exceso de alimentación. En este grupo la comida se ha convertido en un arte. Pero, como contrapartida, proliferan los problemas de obesidad, diabetes, colesterol y otros que son provocados por una ingesta excesiva. Para más inri, en esa parte del mundo donde vive este tercio se despilfarran y tiran a la basura cantidades enormes de alimentos.
Parece mentira que después de tantos años y de una producción de alimentos que bastaría y sobraría para alimentar adecuadamente a toda la humanidad, todavía estemos así. Incapaces de distribuir lo que tenemos para que llegue a todos.
Jesús, en el evangelio de hoy, da de comer a mucha gente. No quiere que nadie desfallezca. No preparan una comida especial. No es un banquete. Simplemente toman lo que tienen y lo comparten. Hasta sobró, como siempre que se comparte la comida.
Dar de comer sigue siendo el mejor signo del reino. No es casualidad que el rito fundamental de los cristianos sea la eucaristía, que no es más que una comida convertida en sacramento. Dios mismo se hace alimento para todos. Por eso, en realidad, siempre que compartimos la mesa, que damos de comer, celebramos de algún modo la eucaristía, alimentamos e incrementamos la vida, damos esperanza. La comida en común nos habla del reino, de fraternidad, de justicia. Pero nuestras eucaristías no serán reales del todo hasta que todos, sin excepción, se puedan sentar a la mesa.
Fernando Torres, cmfTo those who are not filled with themselves,?
you reveal yourself Lord, our God,?
as the giver of all good things.?
Make us yearn for justice and peace?
and for all things that endure.?
Give us a copious meal?
of your word and your life?
through him who is our bread of life,?
Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.
First Reading Introduction: God banished him from the garden of Eden to till the ground. Genesis tells us that sin upsets the world in which people live, our relations with God, our relations with one another. Familiarity with God makes place for fear and distrust. Then the author(s) try to give a popular answer to the causes of evil, suffering, difficult work.
Gospel Introduction: They ate and were satisfied. Jesus, on the other hand, brings people together and gives them something to eat when they are hungry, as a sign of his mercy, his efforts toward unity and of the food of the Eucharist. Let us seek this unity and this food.
– For agencies of international aid, for governments and the United Nations, that they may use all human potentials and all the resources of science and nature to feed the hungry and to develop the earth, we pray:
– For all Christian communities, that they may not abandon anyone in need and that we may open-handedly serve one another, we pray:
– For this community gathered here to break the Lord’s bread, that the Spirit of the Lord make us the sign of God’s generosity and love, we pray:
God, our generous Father,?
in these simple gifts of bread and wine,?
of everyday food and drink,?
you let Jesus, your Son,?
give himself to us?
as the bread of life.?
In the strength of this bread,?
may we become to one another?
fresh bread broken and shared?
to nourish one another?
on our journey to you.?
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.
We give you thanks, generous Father,?
for giving us Jesus, your Son,?
as our food for the road?
to you and to one another.?
Give us the will and the creativity?
to bring to a hungry world?
food and a fair share?
in the goods of the earth.?
But help us also to break the bread?
of dignity and hope to all.?
And be yourself the highest fulfillment?
of all our aspirations,?
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
When we pray the Our Father, we ask the Lord to give us our daily bread. That is not only the food of every day, and the Eucharist, but all we need from day to day. May God give you this and bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
