The miracle of the multiplication of bread addresses some of the basic problems and
longings of human beings: hunger, supply of food, healing the tiredness people feel
and restoring human dignity. Human beings are created for joy and the earth is given to
them as gift. What happened to human family? Why millions of people are starving in
our world? Man made crisis is worsening food shortage and availability of drinking
water. Human dignity is robed from a person when left without food and that is the
reason Jesus felt compassion for the crowd. Gandhi said: ‘to the poor man, God has to
appear as bread and promise of work’. Jesus became our bread of life that we become
bread for each other. We are bread blessed by Jesus for the hunger of the world.
Gospel reminds us that God is close to our hungers and thirsts, both spiritual and
material. He is not someone sitting above the clouds; God is not about judging us but
nourishing us, making us realize our true hungers and needs of our tired self. How can
we become food and healing to each other? It is generosity of our hearts like that of
the little boy who gave Jesus his five loaves of bread and two fish for the miracle that
heals divisions and build the church according to the mind of Christ. The barley bread
and two fish show that the boy himself was poor but rich in generosity. Jesus comes to
us in the Eucharist as presence and gift that we may be food for each other. Jesus
asked the disciples to collect the fragments left over, which reminds us of the hunger of
the world and stop wasteful behavior. Our communion with Christ becomes a living
experience when we care for all hungers of fellow beings. The farmer/rancher working
in the field to make sure there is enough food, the doctors, nurses who help us to stay
healthy and those who are there for our spiritual, emotional wellbeing are all Christ
reaching out to us, Christ is present when we love and everything is filled with grace.
Second Vatican council decree,’Church in Modern World’ says: ‘since there are so
many people in the world afflicted with hunger, this sacred council urges all, both
individuals and governments, to remember the sayings of the Fathers, ‘feed the man
dying of hunger because if you have not fed him, you have killed him’. Mother Teresa
understood this demand of the gospel of Christ, so she brought the good news of
Christ to millions as food, medicine and care. Dorothy Day, one of the founders of the
Catholic Worker Movement made the Sermon on the Mount its guiding principle; “our
manifesto is the Sermon on the Mount, which means we will try to be peacemakers; we
are trying to lead a good life. We are trying to talk about and write about the
Beatitudes, the social principles of the church and the astounding things that happen
when you try to live this way. To perform the work of mercy becomes a dangerous
practice”. Jesus’ compassion for the common folks threatened the ruling and priestly
class of the time, one of the reasons he was crucified. Generosity/works of mercy is
our extended dinner table where Christ feeds the hungers of the world through us!