Scripture Reflection - July 27, 2025

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Genesis 18:20-32

Second Reading: Colossians 2:12-14

Gospel: Luke 11:1-13

Give us each day our daily bread; Gaza is starving.

Luke 11: 1-13

This Sunday’s Gospel is a collection of sayings compiled into one long narrative. First, there is the teaching on prayer, next the lesson on hospitality, and lastly the injunction to be persistent in our searching. At first, the Gospel seems disjointed. A closer look, however, helps us see that in each of its three teachings, there is a reference to food. Why?  Although it’s never advisable to make generalizations, my personal experience in the Middle East has taught me that no matter the circumstances, Middle Eastern people are all about offering hospitality, and food is always the conduit.

In the days following the U.S. war with Iraq, and in the midst of a pummeling unprecedented in modern warfare, the U.S. Dominicans organized a delegation of Sisters to go to Iraq to offer support and solidarity to Iraqi Dominican brothers and sisters living there.  The sanctions and embargo imposed on Iraq by the United States were intended to bring Iraq to its knees.  As usual, the force of these sanctions was felt most acutely by the Iraqi people, particularly those who lived far from the corridors of power.  There was literally no food to be had.

Yet, when we arrived and were finally able to be found by our Iraqi Dominican family, a feast was prepared for us.  Standing awkwardly at the table for the blessing while being fed by the very people our government had deprived of basic needs; my heart could hardly hold the mercy served up for us that day.

A few years later, returning to Kurdistan in northern Iraq, where Iraqi Christians and other minorities were displaced by ISIS invasion, three of us Dominican Sisters from the U.S. moved from one frigid, damp, and depressing makeshift shelter to another to offer comfort and support to thousands of families trying to survive the brutal winter and their unrelenting trauma. Everywhere we went, we were offered warm fresh bread, made in makeshift ovens in the refugee shelters.  I was reminded over and over again of how generous and hospitable this remarkable culture is, even within the most dire of circumstances.

Today, as we watch the horrific scenes of starving Gazans being grossly mistreated and even killed at food distribution sites in this” land of bread,” we are all made culpable by Jesus’ words and his actions.  “ Give us this day our daily bread,” he invokes us to pray.  Again, he challenges us. “Who could give a snake (or a bullet for that matter) when the one who is hungry asks for a fish?”

Today’s Gospel challenges us to look long and hard at hunger and starvation in Gaza and resolve to pressure our government to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.  Let us end this war and bring bread and mercy to the people of the Middle East who so often have offered both to us. 

Sr. Arlene Flaherty, OP