There's enough to go 'round
18th Sunday A
Cobh
2 August 2026
My friends,
It is truly shocking and mind boggling to consider the extraordinary riches controlled by a very small percentage of the world’s population. We once considered a millionaire a very rich person – then we tried to get our heads ‘round the idea of a billionaire, ‘till we now try to grasp the concept of a trillionaire. Clearly, politics and commerce ensure that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Currently, extraordinary sums of money and human resources are being expended on war and conflict that ultimately is a great waste and scandal – it is morally reprehensible and deeply oppressive for the lives of millions of innocent children and their parents.
In the midst of this madness so many go hungry and lack shelter, the very basics required for existence. The reality we know is that there is enough to ‘round. Together we have the resources and capacity to feed, cloth and shelter the poor of the earth. That is the perpetual reminder of the Gospel of the Loaves and the Fishes. Providence and generosity are not confined to the person of Jesus, rather through him the call to feed the hungry and care for the lonely becomes our perpetual vocation – to have that mind within that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
“oh come to the water all you who are thirsty;
says the Lord (Isaiah 55:1, 1st Reading)
Though you have no money, come!
… Listen, listen to me and you will have
good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.
Pay attention, come to me
Listen and your soul will live.”
These verses address the hunger and thirst of the human heart, a hunger and thirst we all experience in a myriad of ways. There is always something that troubles us even in good times – anxiety and fear can be a constant companion for some. Paul’s address to the Romans (2nd Reading) are surely the most hope filled and forceful words of reassurance that he can muster to convey the priceless experience of the love Christ Jesus has for us.
“For I am certain of this, neither death nor life, no angel, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, of height, or depth or any created thing come ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus Our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
So, for us who are blessed with that faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, we’re touched continually with a guiding strong hand. It moves us to share this grace and blessing with those who hunger and thirst for inner peace of soul.
For the world so sorely afflicted by the hatred and destruction of war, we cry out for sanity and compassion to recognise the plight of the victims of war but for all those whose food and shelter is stolen from them and frittered away on vainglorious violence.
We pray for a new miracle of loaves and fishes that the hardened hearts of so many may recognise the pain and destruction they cause and give these people hope again.
