Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.
A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there he sat down with his disciples.
The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
“Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little.”
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people recline.”
Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.
So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
“This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
Lectio (Reading)
Read the passage twice and get a sense of what it is saying. Pay attention to what strikes you.Meditatio (Reflecting)
Slowly read the passage again, pausing on words or phrases that stands out. Take time to consider the meaning. particularly in your life.Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
Oratio (Responding)
Read the passage again, slowly. Consider how God has spoken to you and respond back to Him. You may want to consider how this passage is asking you to act differently.From 5 barley loaves, and 2 fish, 5000 people ate their fill and there were 12 baskets of fragments left over. This miracle is a fulfillment of the promise and abundance of God’s love, it prefigures the miracle of transubstantiation that Jesus established at the last supper, and it foreshadows the miracle of the eucharistic that happens at every mass. The numbers mentioned here are very intresting to consider as well. The young boy represents the jewish people bringing their meager offering to the Lord, the 5 loaves represents the 5 books of the torah (the law), the 2 fish represents the teachings of the prophets, the 5000 represents a great multitude of the worlds people, and the 12 baskets represents the 12 tribes of isreal, and the new gathering in of the dispersed people of Isreal.
Yet despite these numeric metaphors, this miracle actually really happened. The modernist would like you to believe that the miracle was a metaphor too, and that it was only a miracle of all the people sharing what they had with each other. But this idea should not be considered seriously. These athiests do not believe that Jesus was God, and they desperately do not want you to believe it either. They eagerly try to find other ways to explain how miracles happen. But this is a blatant attempt to steal your faith away, and it must be rejected completely. This multiplication was indeed a miracle, and it actually happened. A great multitude of people witnessed it, 5000 men plus their wives and children, and it is recorded in the history books.
Many have tried to explain how this miracle happend. Some say it happened all at once, and Jesus took the small offering and multiplied it into a great pile of food which was then distributed. But here is how I have imagined that this miracle happened. Imagine someone hands you a whole loaf of bread, you break it in half, and then hand the other half to the next person, but as you hand over the loaf to the next person it is a whole loaf again. This miracle would then have been repeated over and over…until all personally witnessed the miracle, everyone was fed, and there much was left over. But regardless of how it happened, this had to be a truly miraculous thing to behold.
But there is much more to this event than simply the miracle of multiplication, it is actually a fulfillment of the all of the care and protection that God provided the Jews in the old testament, and a prefigurement of the future and how God will provide all that we need in the eucharist? There are many times in the old testament that stories have forshadow the this moment of the 5000, and the future feeding of the whole world in the eucharist. You could start with Joseph storing up grain in egypt for Pharoah, and then feeding the whole world. Also with Moses in the desert, asking for God to give them food, and the Lord sends down manna in the morning, and quail in the evening, and all were fed. Or you could look to 1st Kings where Elisha feeds 100 people from 20 barley loaves. All of these moments forshadow todays reading, and the future miracle of the eucharist but the ties between Elisha in the old testament, todays reading, and Jesus at the last supper are very striking. They all occur close to the time of passover. They all consist of the people sitting down and reclining. They all consist of the great high priest saying the words of institution…, Take this bread, give thanks, break the bread and distribute to all that are present. You do not have to be a bible scholar to see the connections, and it is truly remarkable when you really think about it. This moment had be planned and foreseen by God from the very beginning.
But just as the todays reading is the fulfillment of the old testament typology, our eucharist today is the fulfillment of everything Jesus did and taught in His time on this earth. Our catechism says that the eucharist is the “source and summit of our faith,” and there is no more consise or acurate description of it than that. Jesus takes what little we have to offer, He multiplies it, and pours Himself into it, turning it into super-abundant food. We at mass bring our small offering of bread and wine, and Jesus turns them into His real pressence…, His body, blood, soul and divinity. The food that gives eternal life.
Lastly, this metaphor also points to the superabundant promises that God, in His infinite mercy has for us in heaven. We sinful humans can only offer Him a broken loaf, and a weak faith, but through His grace and unfathomable mercy, He turns that small offering into eternal joy and happiness with Him in heaven. If we would just set aside our pride and humbly give Him back a small portion of what He has already given us, He will in turn, lavish us with unimaginable gifts, and satiate every good desire we have.
These are promises that come directly from Jesus Himself. He said that those that eat this bread and drink this wine will never hunger or thirst again. He is not refering to the physical goods of this world but the spiritual ones. The Ignatious study bible says when we give away our spirtual gifts… “they all multiply when shared, in contrast to material goods like money and time and energy, which divide when shared.” When you give away God’s goodness, truth and beauty, you do not have less but you have more. Pope St. John Paul II called this principle “the law of the gift.”
Ultimately, most of us still need food to live, and our time in this world is often devoted to the procurement and consumption of these earthly goods. But with great faith “our daily bread” in the eucharist, is really all that we need to survive. And as proof of this, there are even miracles of saints that lived for years on only the bread and wine of the eucharist. But for the rest of us with a small faith, the gift of the eucharist will, over time, start to transform our small gifts into a superabundant food that will ultimately sustain us for all eternity.
So finally, we come to you and your walk with the Lord today. What are you bringing the the mass, what are you offering to the lord? He is simply waiting for you to bring your meager gift so He can multiply it. What are you waiting for, start today, He is waiting to feed you.
Contemplatio (Contemplating)
Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.Resolutio (Resolving)
Make a resolution that will improve your life, your relationships, or your faith. Make it small and attainable, and do it.Oh lord Help me to see every gift given from God in the same way, as a super-abundant offering of His love for us. Amen.