The Loaves and Fishes and The Holy Eucharist 2025-03-30, 4th Sunday of Lent)

“and when He had given thanks, he distributed to them”

The church presents the multiplication of the loaves and fishes half way through lent to prepare us for the greater miracle, the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood. In this miracle of the loaves and fishes our Lord was ministering to people in the wilderness and a great crowd followed Him. He will take the few loaves, give thanks and distribute and so many will be fed. Certainly a symbol of the Eucharist in that it seemingly came from Heaven in the middle of the wilderness. So many loaves were then distributed in order to sustain their lives. Surely many would have seen the connection between this miracle and the manna that the Hebrews received in the desert.

 

Our Lord works this miracle, knowing that most will desert Him. He will later on give them a very difficult truth to accept. Unless a man eat my flesh and drink My Blood, he cannot have life in him. Many will not accept this hard reality. For the Jews especially, they had a great abhorrence for not only at the sight of human flesh and blood but also for the blood of animals. Many will leave Our Lord and will not follow Him anymore from that point forward. Our Lord will not say to them, it’s not exactly what I meant, let me explain. He will let them go. He will ask the Apostles, will you as well leave Me. St. Peter will respond, where else we go. You have the words of salvation.

The Church will set this gospel midway in Lent, a time of a subtle joy, to remind us that as we go through our Lenten journey, that we are not alone. Christ is with us and will provide for our needs of soul and body. We are completely dependent of God for everything. We have only to convince ourselves of this. It is also with the idea that very soon, Our Lord will institute the Holy Eucharist. This Heavenly Bread which will nourish us spiritually in our journey here on earth into the afterlife. Certainly a great Mystery of Faith and testament of Divine love for Man. That Our Lord Jesus will do this for us poor mortals. 

Our Sanctification depends entirely on God. We become sanctified by being close to Him, dependent on Him, trusting in Him and loving Him. You might say that the crowds that followed our Lord into the wilderness received spiritual food in the words that He spoke. They received actual food from the multiplication of the loaves. But Our Lord will not stop there. He desired to come to each and every Catholic who would receive Him.

Our Lord wishes to take us with Him deeper into the wilderness, separated from the world. Just like those in the Gospel who followed Him. He wishes to provide everything for our needs. He wishes to provide even more for us than those who might have followed Him in the wilderness over 2000 years ago. He wishes to separate us from the world so that He can have a special union with us through the Holy Eucharist. He becomes dissolved inside of us and we into Him. His Body and Blood, becomes part of our body and blood. His Soul and Divinity affixed to our own soul. So much higher than we might say, witnessing the miracle of the multiplication and participating in the meal over 2000 years. God wishes to come to us in this very special way,

 

Let us pray for 2 things. A complete detachment from the world and a complete attachment to Our Lord Jesus Christ especially coming closer and closer to His Passion so that we may appreciate His Sacrifice more, love Him more and be more closely united to Him.

Fr. Peter Fortin