Friday of the Second Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD. One thing I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:1-15)

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.

Crowds began to follow Jesus because they saw the miracles he performed among the sick. Before feeding the crowd of five thousand that came to him, Jesus asks Philip a question: “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” Knowing what he would do, Jesus asks Philip to test him. Seeing the vast crowd, Andrew tells Jesus there is a boy who has five loaves of bread and two fish. This time, Andrew asks a question, uncertain of the outcome: “but what good are these for so many?” Of the two questions, one affirms God’s superabundant grace; the other is despairing, skeptical. Every day, God tests our faith by giving us countless opportunities to trust him. Where do we go for true food, true drink?

God, open my mind to understand today’s Gospel. When I consider that Jesus broke bread, feeding five thousand, I marvel at how he made that possible. Even more so do I stand in awe at the feeding of millions every day in the Eucharist. It is the same Christ broken and shared but undivided among those most in need of his body and blood, soul and divinity. There is something in Jesus’ question, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” that begs to be answered. We can’t buy what we most need; no one can. Only you, Lord, can supply the Eucharistic meal that makes you present within me and makes me whole.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

^{Bertramz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons}

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