In our Gospel readings these past two weeks, we’ve heard how Jesus and his disciples are trying to get away for some rest, but the crowds keep following them. Wherever they go, Jesus and his disciples have captured the imagination and attention of the crowd. The people hunger for many things. Jesus realizes that it is more than a physical hunger, that feeding their physical appetite will not only satisfy one level of hunger, but it will be a sign that he will be able to feed their other types of hunger as well. With the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, Jesus and the disciples feed the hungry crowds. The crowds take as much food as they want until they are satisfied, with a lot of food left over. Through this miracle, the crowds recognize Jesus as God’s true prophet who has come into their midst.
We come to Jesus for different reasons in our lives. We sometimes come to Jesus in a self-centered way, just thinking of ourselves. Nevertheless, Christ’s Good News has the power to transform us and change us. His Body and Blood of Christ feeds us each time we gather around the Lord’s table, having the power to transform us in order for us to humbly serve others, in order to witness to Christ’s values and his ministry, and in order to be leaven in a world that badly needs the Gospel message.
The crowd in today’s Gospel was drawn to Jesus because they saw him as a great teacher. The people hungered to hear his proclamation of God’s kingdom. They followed him into the wilderness perhaps because they knew that their souls were lost in the wilderness as well. The crowds hungered for the words Jesus spoke. Yet, they wanted something more. They felt that there was something missing. But, while they were following Jesus, their earthly reality pressed upon them as well. They had a physical hunger for food that needed to be satisfied as well. They hungered for God, but they hungered for the things of this earth as well.
There is a tension in our lives between the temporal and the divine, between the things of the earth and the things of God. We as Christians are to reach out in the reality of the here and now of our earthly existence, but our eyes are to be fixed on the eternal life to come. Our liturgy is the source and summit of our lives as Catholics, but living out the Eucharist in our daily lives is essential as well. We reach out in works of charity and mercy. A big effort goes out from our parish to those in need, to reaching out to people in our community and throughout the world. Our daily bread reaches out to feed our spiritual hunger. Our daily bread reaches out to feed our earthly needs and our physical hunger. In our faith, the bread from heaven and the word of God feed us, nourish us, and transform us into true disciples of Christ just as they fed and nourished Christ’s first followers. May we follow in their footsteps.
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