Multiplication of the loaves and the fish
From time to time Jesus used to take his apostles to a deserted place to be alone by themselves. There were so many people coming and going that they needed to be on their own, for Jesus to spend time with them and teach them his message without interruptions. When they arrived to the solitary place, they found a great crowd of people waiting for them. They had seen where they were going by boat and hurried through the land to be there when they arrived. You can imagine the disappointment of the apostles who were looking forward to spending few days alone with Jesus.
The Gospel says that Jesus, seeing the people had compassion on them. Saint Mark says that they were like sheep without a shepherd. He healed the sick, listened to their problems, consoled the afflicted and gave them good advice. Jesus is always ready to spend time with us, no matter what the cost, even if we are far away from him. He has a human heart, the same as ours, and he feels in his heart our problems and troubles. After the whole day with them, the apostles asked him to dismiss the crowd, to be able to be on their own. Jesus told them that they must be fed first. They were far away from civilization and because the people had come in such a hurry, they had forgotten to bring food. Jesus not only looked after their souls, but also their bodies. Jesus is not a man with his head in the clouds; he knows what we need. Whenever we complain, he knows what we are going through. He’s been there. He is like us, in all but sin.
“Give them something to eat.” Their response was predictable: we don’t have any food, we don’t have money, and the shops are far away; we have only five pieces of bread and two fish, not enough for us. It is easy to complain. The apostles wanted the people to go away to be able to stay alone with Jesus. Jesus is telling them: do something. He is telling us the same whenever we complain: do something; you can fix the problem. Jesus tells them: “That’s enough. Bring the bread and the fish to me.” Jesus doesn’t need anything to perform his miracles. But he wants to use our talents, our will, our time, for us to think we are helping him. He wants to use what we’ve got, as long as we give it to him, as long as we don’t hide it, or keep it to ourselves. We should give Jesus our bread and our fish.
We have in front of our altar two fish and four pieces of bread. It is a copy of a mosaic from the church close to Capernaum, from the fourth century, where the actual miracle took place. People ask why there are only four pieces of bread. Because the fifth one it is the Eucharist, which comes on the altar during Mass and becomes the same Jesus that was there two thousand years ago. The same Jesus who performed the miracle. If we believe that Jesus is here, he will perform the miracle again and again in our lives. He can change our human nature into his divinity; he can multiply whatever we have.
The miracle happened in a very natural way: nothing fancy. Jesus put the food in two baskets, blessed it and gave it to the people. And the food kept coming out from the same basket. He didn’t attract the attention of the people, to witness his power. It was a beautiful meal. They had the best sandwich of bread and fish ever. The bread was just baked and the fish was recently caught. Afterwards they wanted to make him king, but he ran away. Jesus always gives us the best.
josephpich@gmail.com
