READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Second Book of Kings 2 Kgs 4:42-44
A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God, twenty barley loaves made from the firstfruits, 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 people?” Elisha insisted, “Give it to the people to eat.” “For thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.’” And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the LORD had said.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians Eph 4:1-6
Brothers and sisters: I, 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 and in all.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to John Jn 6:1-15
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. 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.” 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, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had 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 mountain alone.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER With this gesture, Jesus demonstrates His power; not in a spectacular way but as a sign of charity, of God the Father’s generosity toward His weary and needy children. He is immersed in the life of His people, He understands their fatigue and their limitations, but He does not allow anyone to be lost, or to lose out: He nourishes them with His word and provides food in plenty for sustenance. (Angelus, 2 August 2020)
HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II - Castel Gandolfo, July 29, 1979 "Where can we buy bread so that these people may have something to eat?" Before the crowd that had followed Him from the shores of the Sea of Galilee up the mountain to listen to His word, Jesus began, with this question, the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, which is the significant prelude to the long discourse in which He reveals Himself to the world as the true BREAD of life come down from heaven (cf. Jn 6:41). 1. We have heard the Gospel story: with five barley loaves and two fish, provided by a boy, Jesus feeds about five thousand people. But these men, not understanding the depth of the "sign" in which they have been involved, are convinced that they have finally encountered the Messiah-King, who will resolve the political and economic problems of their nation. Faced with this obtuse misunderstanding of His mission, Jesus withdraws, all alone, to the mountain. We too, dear Sisters and Brothers, have followed Jesus and continue to follow Him. But we can and must ask ourselves: with what interior attitude? With the authentic attitude of faith, which Jesus expected from the Apostles and the fed crowd, or with an attitude of incomprehension? Jesus presented Himself on that occasion as, indeed more than, Moses, who in the desert had fed the Israelite people during the exodus; He presented Himself as, indeed more than, Elisha, who with twenty loaves of barley and spelt had fed a hundred people. Jesus manifested Himself, and manifests Himself to us today, as the One who is able to satiate forever the HUNGER of our heart: "I am the BREAD of Life; whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never thirst" (Jn 6,33). And MAN, especially contemporary man, is so HUNGRY: HUNGRY for truth, justice, love, peace, beauty; but, above all, HUNGRY for God. "We must be hungry for God!" exclaims St. Augustine ("FAMELICI Dei esse debemus" (St. Augustine, Enarrat. in Ps. 146, 17: PL 37, 1895ff.). It is He, the heavenly Father, who gives us the true BREAD! 2. This BREAD, which we NEED, is first of all Christ, who gives Himself to us in the sacramental signs of the Eucharist, and who makes us hear, at every Mass, the words of the Last Supper: "Take this, all of you, and eat it; this is my Body offered as a sacrifice for you. With the sacrament of the Eucharistic BREAD - states the Second Vatican Council - "the unity of the faithful is represented and produced, who constitute one Body in Christ (cf. 1 Cor 10:17). All people are called to this union with Christ, Who is the light of the world; from Him we come, through Him we live, to Him we are directed" (Lumen Gentium, 3). The BREAD we NEED is also the word of God, for "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4; cf. Deut 8:3). Undoubtedly, men too can express and pronounce words of high value. But history shows us how the words of men are sometimes insufficient, ambiguous, disappointing, and tendentious; whereas the Word of God is full of truth (cf. 2 Sam 7:28; 1 Cor 15:26); it is righteous (Ps 33:4); it is stable and remains forever (cf. Ps 119:89; 1 Pet 1:25). We must continually listen religiously to this Word; we must take it as the criterion for our way of thinking and acting; we must know it, through assiduous reading and personal meditation; but, above all, we must make it our own, realize it, day after day, in all our behavior.
-->The BREAD, finally, that we NEED, is grace; and we must invoke it, ask for it with sincere humility and untiring constancy, knowing that it is the most precious thing we can possess. 3. The path of our life, traced out for us by God's providential Love, is mysterious, sometimes humanly incomprehensible, and almost always hard and difficult. But the Father gives us the "BREAD of heaven" (cf. Jn 6:32), so that we may be strengthened in our pilgrimage on earth. I like to conclude with a passage from Saint Augustine, which admirably summarizes what we have meditated on: "It is very clear... how your Eucharist is daily food. For the faithful know what they are receiving, and it is good that they should receive the daily BREAD needed for this time. They pray for themselves, to become good, to be persevering in goodness, in faith, and in the good life... the word of God, which is explained to you every day and, in a certain sense, broken, is also daily BREAD" (St. Augustine, Sermo 58, IV: PL 38,395). May Christ Jesus always multiply, for us too, His BREAD!
Fausti - At the center of the chapter is bread: like the water from which you are born and the air you breathe, even bread is a primordial symbol of life: you eat it for a living. But, unlike water and air, it is not only a gift from the earth and the sky, it is also the fruit of work, seasoned with joy and hard work, hope and sweat. In it is inscribed, for better or for worse, the destiny of man, the only creature called to collaborate with the Creator to bring creation to completion. Jesus has already spoken to the disciples of His food, which is to do the Will of the Father and do His work. He lives on this food, which is the Love of the Father to be communicated to his brothers and sisters, so that they may pass from death to life. His bread is to love as it is loved, his work is to give life to his brothers. Jesus goes beyond the sea to the mountain, followed by the crowd, and tests his disciples to make them understand the bread he will give. Moses went up to the mountain, where the ten Words of Life were given. Now the Word itself will be given as the Bread of Life. Only on this mountain can one live the freedom offered by God. Here the Lord will prepare His banquet, will tear off the veil that covers the faces of all peoples, will eliminate death forever and will show His Face. An insignificant little boy is at the origin of the gift for all. This little boy has put his bread at the service of others. He is the image of Jesus, the Son who came to serve and give Life for his brothers and sisters, calling his disciples to do the same. You can see that there are five loaves and two small fishes: their sum is seven, a number that recalls the completion of creation. This little shared food is the life of the seventh day, the aim of creation itself. The Lord takes the initiative of the banquet and acts in the first person. As he takes the bread with thanksgiving, Jesus is the Son who has in himself, as a gift, the Life of the Father. But the Son is not only One who receives passively, he is the same Love as the Father because he is capable of distributing to his brothers and sisters what he has received. "Taking the bread", "giving thanks" and "distributing" are the words of the Eucharist, which restore to each bread its profound reality. In the Eucharist, creation is fulfilled and every desire of God and of man is fulfilled, every promise of His and our expectation: we receive the Life of the Son and we become children and brothers. The Eucharist makes every crumb of bread the fullness of Life. For it, creation returns to being "beautiful" as it was at the beginning, precisely because the man who takes, gives thanks and distributes, is "very beautiful", the image and likeness of God. Only this Bread can satisfy man's hunger. It is the food of the Sabbath that introduces us to the Presence, in intimacy with God. That is why he orders us to gather the surplus. Jesus wants to arouse the desire for this surplus, for this we must be hungry, not for the bread that perishes. The community of disciples is not always the guardian of this surplus. Yet they keep it and pass it on to us day after day, even if they do not understand it well. A perfect quantity of shared bread abounds, embracing the totality of time and people. Twelve baskets like twelve months of the year, twelve tribes of Israel. Of this fullness there is one for ever and for all.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Second Book of Kings
2 Kgs 4:42-44
A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God,
twenty barley loaves made from the firstfruits,
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 people?”
Elisha insisted, “Give it to the people to eat.”
“For thus says the LORD,
‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.’”
And when they had eaten, there was some left over,
as the LORD had said.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians
Eph 4:1-6
Brothers and sisters:
I, 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 and in all.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to John
Jn 6:1-15
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.
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.”
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, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had 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 mountain alone.
PSALM 145
RispondiEliminaAll thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee.
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.
The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaWith this gesture, Jesus demonstrates His power; not in a spectacular way but as a sign of charity, of God the Father’s generosity toward His weary and needy children. He is immersed in the life of His people, He understands their fatigue and their limitations, but He does not allow anyone to be lost, or to lose out: He nourishes them with His word and provides food in plenty for sustenance. (Angelus, 2 August 2020)
HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II - Castel Gandolfo, July 29, 1979
RispondiElimina"Where can we buy bread so that these people may have something to eat?"
Before the crowd that had followed Him from the shores of the Sea of Galilee up the mountain to listen to His word, Jesus began, with this question, the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, which is the significant prelude to the long discourse in which He reveals Himself to the world as the true BREAD of life come down from heaven (cf. Jn 6:41).
1. We have heard the Gospel story: with five barley loaves and two fish, provided by a boy, Jesus feeds about five thousand people. But these men, not understanding the depth of the "sign" in which they have been involved, are convinced that they have finally encountered the Messiah-King, who will resolve the political and economic problems of their nation. Faced with this obtuse misunderstanding of His mission, Jesus withdraws, all alone, to the mountain.
We too, dear Sisters and Brothers, have followed Jesus and continue to follow Him. But we can and must ask ourselves: with what interior attitude? With the authentic attitude of faith, which Jesus expected from the Apostles and the fed crowd, or with an attitude of incomprehension? Jesus presented Himself on that occasion as, indeed more than, Moses, who in the desert had fed the Israelite people during the exodus; He presented Himself as, indeed more than, Elisha, who with twenty loaves of barley and spelt had fed a hundred people. Jesus manifested Himself, and manifests Himself to us today, as the One who is able to satiate forever the HUNGER of our heart:
"I am the BREAD of Life; whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never thirst" (Jn 6,33).
And MAN, especially contemporary man, is so HUNGRY: HUNGRY for truth, justice, love, peace, beauty; but, above all, HUNGRY for God. "We must be hungry for God!" exclaims St. Augustine ("FAMELICI Dei esse debemus" (St. Augustine, Enarrat. in Ps. 146, 17: PL 37, 1895ff.). It is He, the heavenly Father, who gives us the true BREAD!
2. This BREAD, which we NEED, is first of all Christ, who gives Himself to us in the sacramental signs of the Eucharist, and who makes us hear, at every Mass, the words of the Last Supper: "Take this, all of you, and eat it; this is my Body offered as a sacrifice for you. With the sacrament of the Eucharistic BREAD - states the Second Vatican Council - "the unity of the faithful is represented and produced, who constitute one Body in Christ (cf. 1 Cor 10:17). All people are called to this union with Christ, Who is the light of the world; from Him we come, through Him we live, to Him we are directed" (Lumen Gentium, 3).
The BREAD we NEED is also the word of God, for "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4; cf. Deut 8:3). Undoubtedly, men too can express and pronounce words of high value. But history shows us how the words of men are sometimes insufficient, ambiguous, disappointing, and tendentious; whereas the Word of God is full of truth (cf. 2 Sam 7:28; 1 Cor 15:26); it is righteous (Ps 33:4); it is stable and remains forever (cf. Ps 119:89; 1 Pet 1:25).
We must continually listen religiously to this Word; we must take it as the criterion for our way of thinking and acting; we must know it, through assiduous reading and personal meditation; but, above all, we must make it our own, realize it, day after day, in all our behavior.
-->The BREAD, finally, that we NEED, is grace; and we must invoke it, ask for it with sincere humility and untiring constancy, knowing that it is the most precious thing we can possess.
RispondiElimina3. The path of our life, traced out for us by God's providential Love, is mysterious, sometimes humanly incomprehensible, and almost always hard and difficult. But the Father gives us the "BREAD of heaven" (cf. Jn 6:32), so that we may be strengthened in our pilgrimage on earth.
I like to conclude with a passage from Saint Augustine, which admirably summarizes what we have meditated on: "It is very clear... how your Eucharist is daily food. For the faithful know what they are receiving, and it is good that they should receive the daily BREAD needed for this time. They pray for themselves, to become good, to be persevering in goodness, in faith, and in the good life... the word of God, which is explained to you every day and, in a certain sense, broken, is also daily BREAD" (St. Augustine, Sermo 58, IV: PL 38,395).
May Christ Jesus always multiply, for us too, His BREAD!
Fausti - At the center of the chapter is bread: like the water from which you are born and the air you breathe, even bread is a primordial symbol of life: you eat it for a living.
RispondiEliminaBut, unlike water and air, it is not only a gift from the earth and the sky, it is also the fruit of work, seasoned with joy and hard work, hope and sweat.
In it is inscribed, for better or for worse, the destiny of man, the only creature called to collaborate with the Creator to bring creation to completion.
Jesus has already spoken to the disciples of His food, which is to do the Will of the Father and do His work.
He lives on this food, which is the Love of the Father to be communicated to his brothers and sisters, so that they may pass from death to life.
His bread is to love as it is loved, his work is to give life to his brothers.
Jesus goes beyond the sea to the mountain, followed by the crowd, and tests his disciples to make them understand the bread he will give. Moses went up to the mountain, where the ten Words of Life were given.
Now the Word itself will be given as the Bread of Life.
Only on this mountain can one live the freedom offered by God. Here the Lord will prepare His banquet, will tear off the veil that covers the faces of all peoples, will eliminate death forever and will show His Face.
An insignificant little boy is at the origin of the gift for all. This little boy has put his bread at the service of others. He is the image of Jesus, the Son who came to serve and give Life for his brothers and sisters, calling his disciples to do the same.
You can see that there are five loaves and two small fishes: their sum is seven, a number that recalls the completion of creation. This little shared food is the life of the seventh day, the aim of creation itself.
The Lord takes the initiative of the banquet and acts in the first person.
As he takes the bread with thanksgiving, Jesus is the Son who has in himself, as a gift, the Life of the Father.
But the Son is not only One who receives passively, he is the same Love as the Father because he is capable of distributing to his brothers and sisters what he has received.
"Taking the bread", "giving thanks" and "distributing" are the words of the Eucharist, which restore to each bread its profound reality.
In the Eucharist, creation is fulfilled and every desire of God and of man is fulfilled, every promise of His and our expectation: we receive the Life of the Son and we become children and brothers.
The Eucharist makes every crumb of bread the fullness of Life.
For it, creation returns to being "beautiful" as it was at the beginning, precisely because the man who takes, gives thanks and distributes, is "very beautiful", the image and likeness of God.
Only this Bread can satisfy man's hunger.
It is the food of the Sabbath that introduces us to the Presence, in intimacy with God.
That is why he orders us to gather the surplus. Jesus wants to arouse the desire for this surplus, for this we must be hungry, not for the bread that perishes.
The community of disciples is not always the guardian of this surplus.
Yet they keep it and pass it on to us day after day, even if they do not understand it well.
A perfect quantity of shared bread abounds, embracing the totality of time and people. Twelve baskets like twelve months of the year, twelve tribes of Israel.
Of this fullness there is one for ever and for all.