Jan 4: The Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fish

Anonymous French Master: Jesus Feeding the Five Thousand
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, c. 1200

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious

Gospel: Mk 6:34-44

Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all (NRSV, Mk 6:41).

Father, along with the air we breathe and the water we drink, the food that we take for nourishment seems to be the most necessary elements for the maintenance of human life. The crowd followed Jesus listening to his words, not understanding them and not even realizing what was drawing them on. We read in the gospels that Jesus miraculously fed the multitude that had come out into the wilderness to hear him. We are filled with wonder at the telling and they, for the moment at least, were satisfied.

Father, so often we confuse the totality of our life with our physical life here on earth. We are concerned about what we eat, what we drink, and what we wear. But, our true life, Lord, the life that makes us to human beings, is not the physical life of this world. We share that with the animals and plants. Our true life is your life that we receive from you, offered to us by your Word made flesh in Jesus the Christ and breathed into us by your Holy Spirit. This is the life that is really worth nourishing. The food that we seek, often without knowing it, to sustain this life is Jesus the Word. We nurture our true selves, Father, by accepting your Word into our lives in the Holy Spirit. It is by faith in Jesus and through Jesus, in the Spirit, to you, Father, that we are truly nourished.

Father, we may be deprived of air, water, and physical nourishment by all manner of circumstances beyond our control. Physical death may embrace us even against our will, but the true life, your divine life that you share with us, is always offered in every situation. Bodily deprivation and physical death cannot touch our divine selves. Your life, Father, is a free gift that we need only accept and allow to transform us.

The divine food that truly nourishes into life eternal is your Word, Father, and he is always present offering himself to us if only we say “yes.” It is food that never fails. May we always accept it in faith.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen