Feb 11 2006

Mk 8:1-10

In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat,Jesus summoned the disciples and said,“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes,they will collapse on the way,and some of them have come a great distance.” His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread
to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute,and they distributed them to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets. There were about four thousand people.

He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

There were seven loaves of bread for the large crowd and a few fish. After the blessing, the food was passed throught the crowd and over seven baskets of "leftovers" remained. This is the miracle of the loaves. If this was easily understood, it would not be a miracle. I have pondered and pondered the different meanings... I remember one time from my early childhood that my father had a lower level job and was in a union that had just been on a long strike so that we were not getting the regular working class weekly wage that we depended on for over a month. Soon after the strike was resolved and we as a family were still coping with not having enough money for basic expenses, our relatives, my mother's sister, my uncle and three teenage cousins were coming from far away to visit for about a week. They as a group all had very large appetites. I recall my mother saying she was worried how she would feed everyone at our dinner table before they came, but somehow enough food was stretched from cupboards, and cabinets and we were able to host our relatives and feed all. For me, the message is to answer God's call to give no matter what little I have to give because whatever I have will be sufficient for God's needs that God is calling me to.