2 Kgs 4:42-44
A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing the man of God twenty barley loaves from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear. Elisha said, "Give it to the people to eat." But his servant objected, "How can I set this before a hundred?" Elisha again said, "Give it to the people to eat, for thus says the Lord: You will eat and have some left over." He set it before them, and when they had eaten, they had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.
Second Reading
Eph 4:1-6
I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace; one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all an in all.
Gospel
Jn 6:1-15
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (of Tiberias). A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little bit." One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves of fish as they wanted. When they had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world." Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountains alone.
The Word in other words
The story of the Multiplication of Bread (Jn 6:1-14) has a special touch. John brings in a boy with five loaves and two fish. He fascinates me. Among the multitude who followed Jesus the reader's attention is caught by this nameless boy with his merchandise, whom Andrew mentioned to Jesus (v9). Surely he was there to do business. Young though he might be, he would have been the breadwinner of his family; and his poverty made possible the Multiplication of the Bread.
Years ago, while yet working in Brazil, I came across a family of 7 children. The eldest then was 13 years old; and their age gap averaged to a year and a half. They all lived in a single parents' home with their mother. At first, I thought they were all adopted; but in time I discovered that all were children of the same mother, but each one from a different father. I struck a friendship with them, so that one evening after Mass, Marlene, the mother, briefly told me that when she first got married, her thoughts were that marriage meant forever. But it was not even after a year that her first husband found another woman and left her. She needed a companion to raise Roberto, her first born. She found her second partner who left with her second child. The story was repeated until the 7th child was born. She was God-fearing, no doubt; regrettably, she took time to make an informed judgment. No doubt she loved her children, for whom she worked her heart out as a laundry woman. But it time she had to get her children take a share in the earning of their bread.
I was to travel by bus to the capital city one evening, and was about to embark for the twelve-hour journey when suddenly three of the children greeted me. Each carried a couple of bags of fruits to sell. We chatted for a while but I soon called their attention to the time of the night and advised them to go home. In reply, Roberto, the eldest, said: "We have to sell all the fruits before we can go home." Sadness became real in my heart and it left its indelible memory. It was then 9:00 p.m. and it was winter.
I vividly recall this event as I write these lines. Like the boy in the multiplication of bread, there are still today myriads of children lost in the multitude finding a way to earn a living, and many become breadwinners at an early age. On the other hand, the disciple Andrew (Jn 6:8) in the gospel story, found that the boy with the five loaves and two fish and brought not only his merchandise but also the boy himself to the Lord. That boy was among the principal witnesses to the miracle of the Multiplication of the Bread. His presence, as well as his bread and fish, were essential for the miracle to happen. Yet, we should not forget that there was a disciple who brought him and his merchandise to the Lord. Both characters together with the Lord produced the miracle.
When out of our poverty we are willing to give the best we have, and when someone recognizes what it can bring about, God can make a miracle that can transform scarcity into abundance.
- Fr. Bernard Espiritu, SVD (New Zealand)
