25/07/2021
The Gospel today gives us the all too familiar Miracle of the Five Loaves and Two Fish, but have we ever stopped to think why Jesus did this? Perhaps most people think that it was just a nice miracle that Jesus did to impress the Jews, but that is not how Jesus worked in the Gospels. Every time Jesus did a miracle, it was a sign, a way to point people beyond itself to a deeper truth. So the question is, what sign did this miracle give? What was the point of this miracle?
It actually gives us two signs, one general and one specific sign. First, the multiplication of loaves and fishes points to the general sign of the abundance of God's love. We know Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the Trinity, who floods the earth with His love. When Jesus blessed the loaves and fishes to become bountiful, He was inviting the Jews to look beyond the food and see that they are in the presence of God, Jesus Christ himself making his love abundant to His people.
The second more specific sign of this miracle is the Holy Eucharist. We know from faith that the bread and wine, when consecrated at Mass anywhere in the world, becomes the real Body and Blood of Christ, our personal and sacramental encounter with the living Savior of the world. The miracle which multiples the loaves shows how Jesus Christ can make it possible that throughout the world. There is consecrated bread and wine that has His Real Presence, because just like the loaves were multiplied, His love is made abundant so that He can be with us sacramentally around the world. In fact, after this miracle, Jesus then begins to preach to the people about feeding them His flesh and His blood, which the Apostles didn't know at the time was the Eucharist that would be shown to them in the Last Supper. And that is why the Mass, the Holy Eucharist is important. Whatever your situation is during this pandemic, whether you can go to Mass every Sunday, or you have to stay at home, never forget how crucial it is to have that encounter with Christ in the Eucharist. That is why, if the situation permits, we should always take the opportunity to go to Mass and have that literal encounter with Christ in the Eucharist.
Happy Sunday, everyone! ๐
