Jesus’ Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish is a familiar story but it is also rare, being the only miracle recorded by all four evangelist writers.
Four times it was written to impart invaluable lessons of the utter lavishness of God’s faithfulness and love for us. It is a foretaste of something greater than the miracle itself: our Lord Jesus Christ’s Eucharistic generosity, the Bread of Life so that anyone who believes in Him shall thirst and hunger no more.
Our compassionate Christ sees our human condition and understands that even the works of discipleship can break our human spirit.
Philip would not buy into Jesus’ suggestion to get food to feed the five thousand hungry men, not counting the women and children, because it could be very expensive and they could not afford it.
Four times it was written to impart invaluable lessons of the utter lavishness of God’s faithfulness and love for us. It is a foretaste of something greater than the miracle itself: our Lord Jesus Christ’s Eucharistic generosity, the Bread of Life so that anyone who believes in Him shall thirst and hunger no more.
Our compassionate Christ sees our human condition and understands that even the works of discipleship can break our human spirit.
Philip would not buy into Jesus’ suggestion to get food to feed the five thousand hungry men, not counting the women and children, because it could be very expensive and they could not afford it.
Remember Andrew who first introduced his brother Simon to Jesus, his discipleship is remembered as constantly bringing people to Christ. “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.” (Jn 6:9a) But even he was overwhelmed by the enormity of the task of feeding the thousands. “But what good are these for so many?” (Jn 6:9b) Drawn from obscurity, there was the boy, unnamed and with not a spoken word, sheepishly gave his basket to Jesus. We can only guess what was written in his heart, “Lord this is all I have.” And Jesus took it and blessed it.
Miracles seem to happen in situations of scarcity and difficulty. Mother Teresa’s undying devotion to our Eucharistic Lord saw her meager resources multiplied as she ministered to the dying children in the slums of Calcutta. Who would have guessed that after many years, this community would have 45 times more encountered classes than it began with (which was none). Imagine what we would have become had we not reconsidered joining this community. We mustered enough courage to offer our basket of mediocrity before our Lord.
Bring what you have to the Lord. He is inviting us to offer Him all that we have, our littleness, difficulties, fears, challenges and anything born out of our poverty and weaknesses. Cry out your concerns. “I have very limited ability and little to contribute to this community.” Give up your thoughts and rely on Christ’s ability. “There are so few of us in our apostolates. What else can we hope to do?” The Lord of the Harvest sees your needs. “I am spiritually dry and burnt out.” God’s well never runs dry. God’s grace is never scarce; but our ability to receive it is. Miracles do not happen when we give up just when there is only one more effort needed to make it happen. That is, to come before our Lord and allow Him to run our lives.
Is it not a wonderful thing that Our Lord associates Himself with our brokenness, with our want of talent and treasures, with our lack of trust? And yet He does so. With Him nothing is impossible. With His blessings, we are assured of His omnipotence.
Think of Christ frequently and believe that, whoever you are, if Jesus thought you were worth dying for, it is surely worth your while to come and bring yourself and all that you have to God. God brought us here to this community to make use of us for the conversion of thousands, but we must be fed first before we can feed others. This Gospel’s miraculous story is a sign of the great mystery of God's love which is renewed every day at the Holy Mass. All those who partake of His banquet become the living instruments of His presence, love, and compassion.
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life. The “living bread which came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51) is the only One who can appease the hunger of human beings from every home and every corner of the earth. In the Eucharist, we bring the ordinary works of our hands, bread and wine, and add to them the offering our ordinary lives. These are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ and the cup of eternal salvation. He not only feeds us, but empowers us to feed the rest of the world. “God loves us,” says Augustine, “for what we are becoming.” We hope to become the bread that we eat. Fr. Cantalamessa, a preacher of the papal household, said something that is true and encouraging. “We become multipliers of Faith.” We become disciples of hope, disciples of possibilities. That is why Pope John Paul II, now St John Paul, in the last days of his pontificate, proclaimed a special Year of the Eucharist, so that in meditating more on this astounding gift, we would be prompted to quit holding back. God has given us all and asks for all in return, not so He can take it away, but rather so He can multiply.
Miracles seem to happen in situations of scarcity and difficulty. Mother Teresa’s undying devotion to our Eucharistic Lord saw her meager resources multiplied as she ministered to the dying children in the slums of Calcutta. Who would have guessed that after many years, this community would have 45 times more encountered classes than it began with (which was none). Imagine what we would have become had we not reconsidered joining this community. We mustered enough courage to offer our basket of mediocrity before our Lord.
Bring what you have to the Lord. He is inviting us to offer Him all that we have, our littleness, difficulties, fears, challenges and anything born out of our poverty and weaknesses. Cry out your concerns. “I have very limited ability and little to contribute to this community.” Give up your thoughts and rely on Christ’s ability. “There are so few of us in our apostolates. What else can we hope to do?” The Lord of the Harvest sees your needs. “I am spiritually dry and burnt out.” God’s well never runs dry. God’s grace is never scarce; but our ability to receive it is. Miracles do not happen when we give up just when there is only one more effort needed to make it happen. That is, to come before our Lord and allow Him to run our lives.
Is it not a wonderful thing that Our Lord associates Himself with our brokenness, with our want of talent and treasures, with our lack of trust? And yet He does so. With Him nothing is impossible. With His blessings, we are assured of His omnipotence.
Think of Christ frequently and believe that, whoever you are, if Jesus thought you were worth dying for, it is surely worth your while to come and bring yourself and all that you have to God. God brought us here to this community to make use of us for the conversion of thousands, but we must be fed first before we can feed others. This Gospel’s miraculous story is a sign of the great mystery of God's love which is renewed every day at the Holy Mass. All those who partake of His banquet become the living instruments of His presence, love, and compassion.
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life. The “living bread which came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51) is the only One who can appease the hunger of human beings from every home and every corner of the earth. In the Eucharist, we bring the ordinary works of our hands, bread and wine, and add to them the offering our ordinary lives. These are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ and the cup of eternal salvation. He not only feeds us, but empowers us to feed the rest of the world. “God loves us,” says Augustine, “for what we are becoming.” We hope to become the bread that we eat. Fr. Cantalamessa, a preacher of the papal household, said something that is true and encouraging. “We become multipliers of Faith.” We become disciples of hope, disciples of possibilities. That is why Pope John Paul II, now St John Paul, in the last days of his pontificate, proclaimed a special Year of the Eucharist, so that in meditating more on this astounding gift, we would be prompted to quit holding back. God has given us all and asks for all in return, not so He can take it away, but rather so He can multiply.