Be fed
Gospel Reflection
My dear brothers and sisters, today is Saturday of the fifth week in ordinary time and today we heard the second multiplication of bread miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark.
A continuation from yesterday's Gospel reading, we now find Jesus on a hill near the Sea of Galilee, after his return from the Decapolis. Scholars would say that this would mean that most of the people who gathered were Gentiles, most probably Greek.
And here, again, having been with Jesus for three days, listening to his preaching and participating in his healing ministry, many have already depleted the food that they had with them. And so seeing the hungry and probably tired multitude, Jesus expressed his concern to his disciples. His disciples immediately interpreted this as an instruction to feel the multitude, and they were worried because they know that it would be humanly possibly to feed that many people, and they had no way of getting food at that hour. Humanly, but Jesus is beyond human.
In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat,
Jesus summoned the disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
because they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
If I send them away hungry to their homes,
they will collapse on the way,
and some of them have come a great distance.”
His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread
to satisfy them here in this deserted place?”
Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?”
They replied, “Seven.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them,
and gave them to his disciples to distribute,
and they distributed them to the crowd.
They also had a few fish.
He said the blessing over them
and ordered them distributed also.
They ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets.
There were about four thousand people.
He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples
and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
My dear brothers and sisters, today is Saturday of the fifth week in ordinary time and today we heard the second multiplication of bread miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark.
A continuation from yesterday's Gospel reading, we now find Jesus on a hill near the Sea of Galilee, after his return from the Decapolis. Scholars would say that this would mean that most of the people who gathered were Gentiles, most probably Greek.
And here, again, having been with Jesus for three days, listening to his preaching and participating in his healing ministry, many have already depleted the food that they had with them. And so seeing the hungry and probably tired multitude, Jesus expressed his concern to his disciples. His disciples immediately interpreted this as an instruction to feel the multitude, and they were worried because they know that it would be humanly possibly to feed that many people, and they had no way of getting food at that hour. Humanly, but Jesus is beyond human.
This Eucharistic act, wherein Jesus "taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute", reveals to us how He sustains us in our own journey.
He will always have concern for us as we participate in His mission of building the kingdom, and so we are given the sacrament of the Eucharist, where he feeds us in His church, His own body and blood and with the Word of God.
These will sustain us, these will give us strength, these will allow us to feed the hungry, as well. Those who hunger spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, and physically.
In this Eucharistic celebration, let us pray to the father that we be given the heart, the compassion to see the needs of our brothers and sisters, and the strength and desire to satisfy their needs with the food we ourselves received from the Father through Jesus Christ. Amen.
In this Eucharistic celebration, let us pray to the father that we be given the heart, the compassion to see the needs of our brothers and sisters, and the strength and desire to satisfy their needs with the food we ourselves received from the Father through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Photo: Mike Kenneally | Unsplash
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