Summer days end soon, and teachers and students go back to school, in whatever form that takes this unusual year. The weight of history descends as we observe memorials of the destruction of Hiroshima (6) and Nagasaki (9). We’re also challenged to do justice in the present: on World Indigenous Peoples’ Day (also 9), International Youth Day (12), World Humanitarian Day (19), and International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition (23).

In today’s first reading, Isaiah prophesies that God’s invitation to us is totally free and without any strings attached. Saint Paul says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

If I could rescue only a handful of verses from the last Bible to be flung on some apocalyptic bonfire, I admit these lines from Romans 8 would be contenders. They have been among my favorites for years. How many times have I found myself in a difficult hour, wondering how I might pull myself out of this one, only to find these words floating into consciousness: Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

When Jesus got the news, he slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by himself. But unsuccessfully—someone saw him and the word got around. Soon a lot of people from the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was. When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick.

I don’t know how she did it. My mom did all the cooking. Her mother, Nona, never cooked. Her sister, Zia Maria, showed up just in time to put on an apron attempting to steal some of the compliments. 

Today’s gospel assures us that we will be fed and that nothing, not even Jesus’ own grief, will separate us from God’s love. Christ is always on call for us, ready to heal and console. How many of us can say the same?

We are called to the table of God's love and forgiveness.

Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly.