Gospel: Mark 8: 1-10
It is true that Scripture contains multiple senses in which to interpret a text, though the literal sense remains the most fundamental. When another sense comes to eclipse and replace entirely the literal sense, we can be pretty sure that we are far afield of what we are meant to be doing in that passage. Such is the case with today's Gospel reading.
The only times Jesus ever asks us to give everything we have is in caring for the immediate needs of others: spend yourselves to the point of exhaustion healing and caring for others, give all the food you have to feed the hungry. We are not to look and see if what we have is sufficient to meet the need; we are to feed others in a very literal sense. What we have is never enough, but if we give all God's miraculous work will make it sufficient for all.
This passage does indeed have Eucharistic elements to it, though sadly many will take that sense alone and spiritualize the passage, giving allowance to those who would neglect and ignore the needs of the poor in our world. If we cannot see Christ present in the poor and hungry, we cannot claim to see Christ in the Eucharistic elements of bread and wine. If our participation in the Eucharist does not bring us closer to others and more avid in providing for their needs, we partake of the Lord's table unworthily.
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