THE ONE WHO FEEDS FIVE THOUSAND MEN CAN ALSO FEED FIVE BILLION.

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY ORDINARY TIME. YEAR A.
August 3, 2008.
(First reading: Isaiah 55:1-3) (Psalm 145:8-9, 15-18)
(Second reading: Romans 8:35, 37-39) (Gospel reading: Matthew 14:13-21)


THE ONE WHO FEEDS FIVE THOUSAND
MEN CAN ALSO FEED FIVE BILLION.

The miracle of the feeding of the multitude is a sign of the Lord's power when it comes to meeting all human needs.

Whether it is five thousand or five billion, they all will have their fill if they follow the Lord, just as the multitude followed him even to "a deserted place". (Matthew 14:13).

The miracle of the feeding of the multitude is a miracle of revelation and a miracle of cooperation between man and God.
1. It is a miracle of revelation in so far as it reveals the suffering of human beings and the compassion of Jesus. Jesus suffers when others suffer. His heart is capable of being "moved with compassion" (Matthew 14:14) at the sight of a needy crowd.

2. It is a miracle of cooperation between man and God. Jesus needs and asks for the cooperation of those with him. When the disciples proposed Jesus to "dismiss the crowds", he replied: "There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves". When the disciples disclosed: "Five loaves and two fish are all we have here". Jesus takes what they have.

The Lord Jesus needs what we have.
The miracle of the feeding of the multitude begins with what we give Jesus, whatever little that may be. The only answer unacceptable to Him is : "dismiss the crowds" (Matthew 14:15), "there is nothing we can do".

Jesus shows us what to do with the resources we have.
Upon learning that there were only five loaves and two fish, Jesus requested: "Bring them here to me" (Matthew 14:18). He shows how the wealth of the world is to be used: For the benefit of all mankind! We know that the five loaves and the two fish could have being enough to feed, say, four or five people, but then, there would have been no miracle, the crowds would have gone away hungry.

The miracle consists in the fact that everyone had their fill. One may multiply wealth many times over, but there will be no miracle unless everybody benefits from it.

What some people do with the world's wealth
Some people would be more than ready to make the same request Jesus made; they would say: "Bring them here to me", but - here is where the tragedy begins - they will keep the "five loaves and two fish" for themselves, depriving the crowds of what they need.

Throughout history, human beings have organized themselves under different forms of socioeconomic systems such as slavery, feudalism, capitalism, socialism or communism or any combination thereof only to ensure the protection of their own interests (appropriating for themselves "the loaves and the fish") while dispossessing the multitudes to whom the earth's wealth truly belongs.

The inapropriate use of wealth is in radical opposition to the example given us by Jesus in the feeding of the multitude:
1. Those who use wealth inapropriately display an absolute lack of understanding of human suffering; their hearts are never "moved with compassion" at the sight of the starving humanity (or at the sight of any other human suffering, for that matter); They are only concerned with "feeding" themselves; and

2. They deepen the gap between the rich and the poor; they cannot accept equality within the universal human community.

The miracle of the feeding of the multitude shows that just as Jesus asked for the cooperation of his disciples in order to multiply the loaves and the fish, he also asks us today to cooperate with him in "feeding" not only five thousand men but five billion, even the entire humanity today and always.