18th Sunday A 2 August 2026 Sermon

18th Sunday A     2 August 2026      Eucharist as expectation

One of the things we learn when we are growing up is not to be greedy. If there are several cakes on the table we should not eat all of them; other people might want some.

This is a good lesson to learn, but there is one kind of food where the rules are different, where we should be ‘greedy’ but in a good way. This is the food that comes from Heaven, the bread of life.

Come to the water all you who are thirsty, buy corn without money and eat, and at no cost, wine and milk. The best things in life are free, as the saying goes, and it certainly applies here.

The miracle of the loaves showed the abundance of God’s blessing to us. There was a lot of bread left over. Everyone had enough to eat and there was still more available.

God is offering Himself to each person and the more of God we take into our lives, there is still an infinite amount left over for everyone else.

If I receive from God, I am not depriving anyone else of anything. This is the difference with this food.

God wants us to approach Him ‘greedily’, asking for every possible blessing.

Much of our prayer can be tentative. But God is infinite. We do not ask too much from Him, but too little.

We stop praying too soon. Not just in the number of things we ask for, but in the whole understanding of His blessings.

I do not say we should ask for millions of dollars; we can do better than that.

We should ask for God Himself. All the goodness, love, grace, happiness that God can provide – it is laid out for us like a feast on the table. Come and eat.

The more of God we take in to our hearts the more spiritual our understanding becomes and the less concerned for the physical and material.

This was Jesus’ message to the people. No, don’t see Me just as a bread-making machine, but see the miracle as leading you to something beyond.

Read the signs. He was showing the people there was more to life than they expected, and He was here to show them what it was.

If we follow His teachings, pray to Him, receive His grace in the Eucharist  - it would all come together.

Ask and you shall receive and it will be more than you ever imagined. Not millions of dollars but better still.

We are here now at a banquet. The Mass is a feast of God’s love and we can receive as much as we can take.

When we come to Holy Communion, ask for the sky. Material blessings, yes, but spiritual even more so.

Ask for God Himself. Ask that we will have the capacity to receive Him, that we will be open to all that He is offering us.

He is present in the host, but each person is a different encounter. Am I present for Him? Am I hungering for what He can give me?

We might hold back because we do not want to become too ‘spiritual’ or ‘holy’, but we will be glad if we do let Him take us to another level.

Holy Communion is such an important moment, but we can lose it in the short time that it takes, and we can block its full effect by our own limited expectations.

This is a time to ask for more.

There is enough, and more for everyone.