Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
Confronted by the crisis of hunger among the people who followed him into the wilderness, Jesus prayed. The Evangelists will not allow anyone who reads the scriptures to suppose his feeding the people was any sort of magic, neither white nor black.
It was the mercy of a gracious God who provides for his people. It was impossible -- Beyond comprehension! -- that the LORD who had seen the suffering of his people in Egypt, delivered them into the wilderness, and there fed them with bread from heaven and water from a rock would, two thousand years later, not feed the hungry and provide drink for the thirsty who followed his Son into the same wilderness.
And so, aware of his Father's compassion, Jesus "looked up to heaven." What followed was neither magic nor miracle but a sign of God's providential love. They could not fail to recognize both familiar gestures, his prayer and their eating to satiety.
The Eucharist provides the same spiritual satisfaction for faithful Catholics. Sustained as we are by the Real Presence, we recognize the One God of the Old and New Testaments. Amid the bewilderment of our time with its whizbang technologies, political polarization, existential threats of nuclear war and environmental collapse; and dissatisfied with its sexualized, barbaric entertainment, we return to our faith's ancient assurances.
God is with us. And we are with God. Regardless of how we might feel about ourselves -- since we do participate and cannot avoid the encroachments of our world -- we follow the Lord into the wilderness of silence and solitude. Our twofold silence embraces both the quiet of no noise and the intense focus of the hymns we sing together. And our twofold solitude is both personal and communal, as we come apart from the wasted city to be with the Lord in the wasteland.
Like the saints of every age, during this year of Eucharistic revival we welcome the Lord's insistent command, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.