STM Homily | Fr. Joseph MacNeill | August 2, 2026

Three questions. Would you believe me, brothers and sisters, if I told you that the word of the Lord speaking to us today in these three readings presents to us, each one of us three questions by which the Lord is, in a certain sense, putting us on record, by which he's also interrogating us, by which he is more so, I would say, presenting to us some food for thought for the days and weeks ahead.

So the first question we have today, coming from our first reading, this one, we start out with one that's a little biting, perhaps a bit difficult. Here's the question that comes to us from the words of the prophet Isaiah. The word of the Lord speaks to us today. Why spend your money for what is not bread? Your wages for what fails to satisfy? Why spend your money for what is not bread? Your wages for what fails to satisfy.

The word of the prophet here is speaking to a people in exile all the way back in the sixth century B.C., the people of the kingdom of Judah have just experienced one of the worst travesties in all of salvation history. The great Babylonian army had come to their doorstep, had laid waste to the entire city of Jerusalem, destroyed the great temple of Solomon. It seemed as if the entire covenant with the people of Judah and Israel had come to nought. Terrible travesty. And what happens on top of this? Thousands of people from that kingdom are deported many miles away to Babylon, where they live out their days in cruel slavery for decades.

And what happens in the midst of their exile, their slavery in a foreign land. They hear the words of the prophet speaking to them, the words we hear today. Words of comfort and consolation. The Lord extends to the people in exile. A hand saying Hope is not lost. Restoration will come back. You will return to your land and rebuild your city. The Lord stretches out a hand to these people in exile today.

But then comes this question because there's a problem with those people in exile. Even though the Lord is stretching forth his hand and offering hope, consolation, restoration. What was happening at that time? Many of the people didn't really want to even go back to their homeland. A bit of Stockholm syndrome, in a certain sense, was setting in. They were mingling with the pagan idols of the Babylonians. Some were quite happy with their financial situation. They'd found some nice jobs in Babylon. They wanted to stay. They didn't much want to go back to renew the covenant with the Lord.

And so the question calls out to them, why spend your money? The Lord says. For what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy. Why do you turn away from the true God and His covenant and put something else in its place?

I think this question speaks to all of us today. We're much like those people in exile here. We are exiled from our true homeland, which is heaven. As Paul says, our true citizenship is in heaven. We're living in this place of exile, this world of ours. A nice place, perhaps, but how easy is it for us to mingle a little too much with the brokenness and the fallenness of this world, and not to set our sights on the heavenly Jerusalem? How easy it is for us to spend our money, our hard earned wages, on what is not bread, on what fails to satisfy into eternity.

What might that look like for us? Where do we spend most of our time and our talent and our treasure? I often say, you know, it's a nice exercise to take your bank statement or maybe your schedule for the last few months to look at it, maybe give it to somebody else, an independent observer. That person would be able to tell pretty well where our priorities lie. And I'm speaking, of course, to myself and foremost amongst all of us in this sacred space. Where and how do we spend our hard earned time, talent and treasure? And are we placing more of it? And what does not truly satisfy into eternity? Are we mingling with the pagan idols of our day, which could be something like Instagram or YouTube or Facebook or Twitter?

That first question why spend your money for what is not bread? Your wages for what fails to satisfy? Bit of a tough question to start with.

Second question. It's a bit more consoling for us. This comes from the second reading, Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans. The first words of this reading, which are so iconic. Second question for us today, spoken to us by the Lord, to each one of our hearts. Here's the question what will separate us from the love of Christ? What will separate us from the love of Christ?

Ask that question to yourself today. What do you bring with you? What do I bring with myself here to mass today? Some burden, some distress. Some difficulty, some tribulation. What do I bring with me to mass this day? Thinking this is separating me from the love of Christ. We all do that, don't we? Anguish, distress, persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword. Something in our life that is dragging us down. And we come to mass today thinking this is separating me from the love of Christ.

The word of the Lord today banishes that thought from our mind. What does Paul say? No. In all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. No suffering or trial or tribulation, as difficult as it may be. Even the depths of distress in our world. None of that can separate us. The Lord tells us today from the love of Christ. Simply look at the cross if you need proof of this. What do we see? When we look at the cross? We see anguish, distress, persecution or famine or nakedness or peril, all of that. And yet the cross is as we know. It's the reason we have it up in our churches. The greatest symbol and sign of love, the love of God that could possibly exist. Nothing, no suffering or tribulation can separate us from the love of Christ.

If I might dare add something a little bit to Paul's words here, I'd say the only thing that could possibly, in a certain sense, separate us from the love of Christ is ourselves. Maybe our own apathy, our own indifference, our negligence, our lack of awareness of God's love for us. The love is there. The problem could only be our own indifference, our own lack of attention.

So the second question should hopefully bring us great consolation today. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing. Nothing. God's love is living and effective for us today.

Which leads us to the third question. If, following the first question, we are striving to do away with those things that are keeping us from setting our mind and heart on heaven, if we're aware, following the second question of that love of God that fills our hearts even in the midst of the trials and tribulations of this life. All of this propels us forth to the third question, which is all about how we go out and serve in the world around us.

The gospel passage is this wonderful story of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. For the five thousand and more people that are gathered around Jesus. We've heard this story so many times. We've read it so many times that I think there's a line in here, a question in here that we often overlook. I myself often overlook. And as I was praying with this, this line, this word of the Lord spoke to me and I think speaks to us today. What's the question? Before Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fishes, what does he do? He turns to the disciples and he says, why are you not giving them some food yourselves?

Question number three why are you not giving them food yourselves? Jesus, of course, is going to perform the miracle. He's going to multiply the loaves and the fishes. He could just do it at the drop of a hat. He's God, he's Lord. But what does he do before he multiplies the loaves and the fish? He asks them to give them food themselves. In other words, he's saying to the disciples, it's kind of your job as my followers to go out and to to help feed those who are in need.

And they protest saying, well, we don't have enough. What I have to offer is too meager. Five loaves and two fish. It's impossible. It's ridiculous. They're thinking to themselves how ridiculous I'm going to look if I walk out into this great crowd with just a little bit of food, and we all think that way sometimes, don't we? We go out to serve or call to serve. We think, I don't want to look ridiculous. I don't want to stick out. But Jesus says, no. Go out and feed them yourselves with faith and trust and hope that a miracle will indeed take place.

So how does this relate to us? Hopefully you already see how it relates to you and to me. We all pray and pray and pray for miracles in our world, don't we? We should. I'm not saying we shouldn't. We pray for all different kinds of things to happen. We pray for justice. We pray for the uplifting of those who are downtrodden. All these things for which we should pray.

But there's a certain sense in which God, even as we're praying, is asking us this question, why are you not giving them food yourselves? What am I? And again, I'm speaking to myself too, here. Okay. What am I? What are you. What are we doing? And we are doing much here, which is wonderful. But what are we really doing day by day to give food ourselves to those who are in need? And of course, that means physical food. It also means a whole host of other things. How are we serving the spiritual and material needs of those around us, even as we are praying and praying with great hope and trust for the miracles that we know, can and do take place through the inspiration and the direction of our Lord.

So let this question, this third question once more sort of prick our conscience a bit today. Why? Jesus says to us, why are we not giving them some food right now ourselves?

Three questions to take with us in the days ahead. Just to summarize, hopefully you're paying attention. But to summarize, first question. Where are we really? Where are we really spending our time, our talent, and our treasure? And how does this reflect our devotion to the Lord and to the things of heaven? That's the first one. Number two, what do I think is separating me from the love of God? What trial or tribulation do I think is separating me from the love of God? How is that preventing me from really being aware of the magnitude of that love? And finally, how am I serving the needs of those around me, even as I'm praying and praying for the miracles that will come? How am I today giving food myself to the one who is hungry?