Tuesday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, August 8, 2023

Matthew 14, 13-21

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, "This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves." He said to them, "There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves." But they said to him, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have here." Then he said, "Bring them here to me," and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over — twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

I inadvertently presented the Gospel Reading for today’s Mass as yesterday’s, so anyone looking for my reflections on the proper Gospel Reading for today should look for it on the blog entry for Monday, August 6, 2023.  The reflections I am posting for Tuesday are for the Gospel Reading for Monday.

Our God creates us, sustains us in existence, nourishes us, heals us, and will raise us from the dead at the end of time.  Here, we see how God nourishes us, and how he provides not merely sufficient food, but more than sufficient.  His desire to feed the people and his desire to show how capable he is of doing this lead to everyone eating until they “were satisfied”, and that twelve large baskets held what remained afterwards.

It pays to compare the feeding of the five thousand men, also recorded in all four of the Gospels, with the miracle at the Wedding at Cana, recounted in the Gospel of St. John.  In both Gospels, someone pointed out a need to the Lord Jesus: in the case at Cana, it was the low supply of wine.  In both Gospels, Jesus gives directions for the remedy.  At Cana, he has servants pour water into stone jars and then take some out and present it to the master of ceremonies.  Here, he has the Apostles distribute the food.  In both cases, an over-abundance is brought about.  At Cana, he made about 180 gallons of wine, which might have amounted to two or three gallons per guest.  In the feeding of the five thousand, enough was left over to feed hundreds more people.  

We might ponder the meaning of this miracle, for it has a meaning.  All the Lord’s miracles acted as signs.  But we are also assured of this miracle acting as a sign in a remark the Lord makes to the Apostles during a later discussion: “Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?” (Matthew 16, 9).  For help, we look to the end of the account of the wedding at Cana, where St. John comments: “Jesus . . . manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (John 2, 11).  This hints to us that while Jesus fed all those men and women because they were hungry, just as he provided wine for the benefit of the guests at the wedding, he also performed this action in order to show forth his glory and to strengthen the belief of his Apostles in him.  These miracles act to prepare the Apostles in this way.  The miracle at Cana prepared them for the Lord’s casting out of the money changers at the temple in Jerusalem, establishing thereby that he regarded this building as his own house; the miracle here prepares them for a great question which he will ask them and which Peter will answer: “Who do you say that I am?” “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16, 18).

This feeding of the five thousand as well as the later feeding of the four thousand, in addition to the making of the wine, ought to remind us of Psalm 104, 27-28: “All look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.”  The Lord perfectly fulfills this passage in nourishing the souls which he has created by revealing the depths of God’s love for them, even by dying on the Cross to open heaven for them.  All this he does for us.  We have a fabulous abundance in the food of the Holy Scriptures and in the Holy Eucharist.  If we go hungry, we have only ourselves to blame.