8 January 2019 - enough for the hungry

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

We love because God loved us first. Our hearts are meant to be like the heart of the shepherd, the heart that "was moved with pity" for the vast crowd because "they were like sheep without a shepherd".

We must love as Jesus loves. We must not leave the crowds without the voice of the shepherd's teaching, nor the nourishing bread the shepherd provides. Jesus nourishes the spirits of his flock but also their bodies.

They all ate and were satisfied. 

In the way Jesus fulfills the physical needs of the crowd is a hidden lesson for us. Even in this supposed corporeal work of mercy we see a deeper spiritual reality at work. For the disciples, there is the required trust in the supernatural. The Church always moves through the her pilgrimage on earth with seemingly insufficient resources. But when she trusts in Jesus she always has enough, even for practical considerations. For the crowd, even though physical bread is what is being given, nevertheless they are invited to hunger for true food that Jesus will give in his own flesh.

They all ate and were satisfied. 

Do we want to eat and be satisfied? Is this not what we want for those who worship with us, and indeed for the whole world? Then we need to have hearts like that of Jesus. We need to trust him to meet all of our needs. We respond better to the plans of Jesus if we ourselves learn to long for the true food and true drink he wants to give.

They all ate and were satisfied. 

Our role in satisfying the crowds is a role that Jesus gives to us out of love, both for us, and for the crowds. He allows us to be made into vessels of the gift which he himself is.

In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

The psalmist knows that when the crowds eat and are satisfied their hearts are moved to adoration. The hunger that has afflicted humanity since the fall is being healed. The new creation is being brought forth.

Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.