Multiplication of the loaves
Posted by Bob Kenward on July 27, 2008
Prepare for Mass – 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
God loves us so much and knows our every need. The LORD is good to all, compassionate to every creature. – Ps 145:9. God promised a final and everlasting covenant fullfilled in Jesus. This covenant is entrusted to the Church, the body of Christ.
In the gospel reading of Matthew 14:13-21, the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus showed compassion on the multitudes of people that followed him to a deserted place after he heard the news of the death of John the Baptist. When the disciples suggested that Jesus dismiss the crowds so that they could go to the villages to buy food for themselves, Jesus said let them eat. The two fish and five loaves were all they had. Jesus took the fish and loaves and looking up to heaven, said the blessing, gave it to the disciples who in turn gave it to the crowds. Five thousand, not including women and children were fed and were satisfied.
In this precursor to the Sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus charges his disciples with feeding the multitude. The Lord invites us into an everlasting covenant with him that promises fulfillment for both body and soul. His invitation is a call for us to entrust what we have to him and to love him. What can separate us from God’s love? Nothing.
He asked the disciples to give him what little they had for food. Being God, he could have made it appear out of nowhere and had the disciples watch while he himself distributed the food to the crowd in a spectacular way. Instead he said entrust to me what little you have and I’ll make sure you have what you need to sustain you. He gave his disciples the task of feeding the multitude.
So to he entrusts each of us to build up the body of Christ, to evangalize, to make disciples of every nation, to respond to vocations, to be kind to the people around us (even those we don’t particularly care for), to trust and love God, to love ourselves, and to love our neighbors.
Is 55:1-3 – All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.
Catechism 1335
The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist.
Church of the Multiplication – Tabgha
PRAYER
O Christ Jesus,
when all is darkness
and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence,
Your love, and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust
in Your protecting love
and strengthening power,
so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for, living close to You,
we shall see Your hand,
Your purpose, Your will through all things.
-St. Ignatius of Loyola
