Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
If Herod should invite you to dinner, be careful: he may behead you. If Christ should invite you, go because he will feed you with life-giving food. Consider the lack of elegance as Herod feasted and the great elegance of the banquet of the Lord.
Numbers are important. Five are the books of the Torah, the first books of the Bible, and five are the loaves blessed, broken and given. Twelve are the tribes of Israel and twelve are the baskets filled after the meal. One hundred were the prophets fed by Elisha with twenty loaves of bread; five thousand men plus their wives and children were fed by Jesus in the deserted place with only five loaves and two fish.
Herod had a pity party for himself with the head of John the Baptist. Jesus had pity on the crowd because they had no place to eat, and he fed them.
Feeding the crowd in the deserted place recalls feeding the Israelites with the manna in the desert. Raising eyes to heaven, and blessing, breaking and giving bread can look forward to the Last Supper. In the Eucharist, Jesus still raises his eyes, sees us, blesses us and feeds us.
The Eucharist is only one bread and one cup no matter how many breads and cups are on the altars of the world. It is still only one bread and one cup to feed the millions of people on the earth from the beginning to the end of time. We eat the bread of unity and drink the cup of unity despite our differences. The Eucharist we celebrate is a dynamic unity, akin to feeding five thousand plus in a desert thousands of years ago.