God calls us to the banquet of life

FIRST READING—Isaiah asks a question today that is filled with poignancy. Why spend your money on food that is not nourishing? Are you spending money one things that don’t satisfy your deep cravings?

God calls us to the banquet of life and to accept this invitation you don’t need a lot of things.

The thirteen verses of Isaiah 55 are a poem about a God-life. Isaiah is suggesting that our dis-ease come from no knowing what we really want from life. Verse three begins, “Come to me heedfully.” The word heedful means; careful, attentive, watchful and mindful. God calls us to live our lives fully awake.

God, who is totally heedful of us, knows that we can live a half-life, worried about ourselves, our families, the future, until there is no more time to actually live, no time to enjoy all the blessings that we actually have.

“Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare.” We know that a bowl of soup and a piece of fresh bread shared with friends is better, richer fare than a four course meal eaten when our hearts are disturbed or if we have no one to share it with.

Food is a metaphor for life. How we live depends on our nourishment. Today we are concerned about genetic modification of food, toxins in the food chain, polluted water and so on. These are all important issues.

Perhaps we are less concerned about the nourishment of the spirit. Where do we find our soul food? Through Isaiah, God says to us, “Let me feed you. It will be rich food, only the best. We need reassurance and this God supplies. “I fed you in the wilderness.”

©2005 Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Used with permission.

God invites us to “come, buy and eat”

FIRST READING—After a generation of Exile in Babylon, Israel is invited to feast again in the Land of Promise. The prophet alludes to the food given in the desert during Israel’s first journey to that land and, again, the promise of abundant food given just before entering into it. Water, wine, milk, bread are the signs of God’s favor and care for the people. All are given without having to earn them. God’s gracious love pours out food and drink so the people can live with joy. No wonder food has become a sign of love in Jewish households (and Christian too)!

©2020 Father Clement D. Thibodeau. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

The meaning of biblical wisdom

FIRST READING—All my life I’d heard about the “wisdom of Solomon.” But only when I seriously began to study Scripture did I understand the meaning of biblical wisdom. It has nothing to do with winning at Jeopardy or becoming a trivia expert. On the contrary, it’s the ability to see the things in our lives that God expects us to see. The author of I Kings supplies us with a classic definition. When Solomon, at the beginning of his reign, is asked what he wants from Yahweh, he simply responds, “An understanding heart.”

At the time this passage was written most people believed they thought with their heart, not their mind. The heart didn’t get involved with feelings. (Those were relegated to a person’s kidneys!) So Solomon is basically asking Yahweh for the ability to think the right way: to judge things and people as Yahweh judges them. Quite a task.

©2017 National Catholic Reporter. All Rights Reserved. Sr. Mary McGlone  is a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet. 2017 Reflections,  2020 Reflections can be read at National Catholic Reporter website.

Concerning the Messianic Banquet of the Eucharist, Pope Paul VI wrote: “How could we fail to take part in this encounter, to partake of the banquet that Christ has lovingly prepared for us?  Our participation should be dignified and filled with joy.  Christ, crucified and glorified, comes among his disciples to draw them all into the power of his resurrection.  It is the pinnacle, here on earth, of the covenant of love between God and his people: the sign and source of Christian joy, the preparation for the eternal banquet in heaven” (Gaudete in Domino, 322).

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

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SECOND READING—No commentary this week on the second reading. Go to the first reading and the Gospel.

©2005 Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Used with permission.

No power can prevent God from loving us

SECOND READING—Paul’s theology of suffering is quite simple: Pain and deprivation cannot separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ; rather these actually bring us closer to the realization of glory thatis in the Risen Lord. His theology of superhuman powers is equally simply and direct: No created power, on earth or in the sky, can separate us from the love of Christ. All this does not mean that Paul takes suffering and opposition lightly. His own experience gives evidence that those are not to be taken lightly. But nothing beyond our control can ever separate us from the love of Christ. We have no need to consult any astrological chart to see if there is any threat to us today. The love of Christ keeps us safe.

©2020 Father Clement D. Thibodeau. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

The privilege of being Christian

SECOND READING—Today’s Romans periscope contains one of the most consoling lines in all of Scripture: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Paul uses this entire passage to stress the importance of each individual Christian. He’s certain every one of us is “conformed to the image of (God’s) Son.” No wonder he constantly reminds his communities that we together make up the body of the risen Christ in this world. All of us are other Christs. The only condition for being so privileged is that we love God, and show that love by giving ourselves for those around us. That’s the essential part of the metanoia Jesus expects of his followers. Because of a complete reversal of our value system, we’ve come to believe that to experience good in our lives, we’ve got to become a force of good in other people’s lives.

©2017 National Catholic Reporter. All Rights Reserved. Sr. Mary McGlone  is a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Her 2020 Reflections can be read at National Catholic Reporter website.

At this point in St. Paul’s letter to the Christians of Rome, his words burst forth in a hymn extolling God’s love and faithfulness.  He assured them (and also assures us) that nothing can separate us from God’s love.  Paul wrote that Jesus Christ has freed Christians from the dominion of sin and death, from a disordered love of self, and slavery to the old Law.  He assures Christians that their rebirth into the family of God through the Sacrament of Christian Baptism gives them freedom and power over the forces in life that drag humanity down into iniquities that lead to the destruction of both body and soul.  By assuming humankind’s fragile nature, Jesus Christ has allowed humanity to triumph through His defeat of death and glorious resurrection.  He has not only conquered all those destructive forces, but He has also communicated that victory to those who have accepted God the Father’s call to salvation.  He did this for those who have been molded to the pattern of his Son … those that he called, he justified, and those that he has justified he has brought into glory (Rom 8:29b-30).  These are the ones Paul first wrote about in Romans 1:17, The one who is righteous by faith will live!  Now, in a jubilant hymn of praise, Paul sums up all the gifts of divine love that humanity has received through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

St. Paul begins his hymn with a rhetorical question in verse 36.  It is as though Paul is assuming the role of a prosecuting attorney in a law court examining the Christian called to testify to his faith.   Old Testament parallels can be found in Job chapters 1-2 and Zechariah chapter 3. In verse 37, Paul answers his question with a definitive “NO!” and offers a list of temporal hardships that cannot have power over us or remove us from the love of God.

In answer to his question, spoken on behalf of the Christian responding to this examination, Paul affirms God’s dominion over the entire cosmos and all that it contains.  In verses 38-39, he lists powers that are subject to God’s authority.

1. Death: Sin is the author of death, but Christ has conquered both sin and death which no longer have power over justified believers;
2. Life: God is the author of life, and it is through the saving work of Christ that the Christian has received the gift of eternal life;
3. Angels: “Angels” may refer to fallen angels in partnership with Satan (Rev 12:7-9).
4. Powers and principalities: These are demon powers like fallen angels that are hostile to humanity; these are still subject to the power of God (see Ephesians 1:21; 3:18).
5. Nor the heights nor the depths:  Paul is referring to the opposite extremes of Heaven and the grave, and he continues: “nor any other creature (created thing) will be able to separate us and the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul assures us that neither power from the natural world, nor any power from the supernatural realm can rupture the union of love between Christ and the Christian.

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

However, there is one force Paul does not name, and that is our free will.  Can the Christian, exercising his/her free will, rupture his/her union with God?  In Romans 8:35-38, St. Paul notes trials and forces but not sins; it is a clear distinction from what he had to say about the list of sins in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.  The misinterpretation of this passage led Martin Luther to believe that even sin couldn’t separate us from Jesus Christ.  Luther concluded that man suffered from a total depravity of nature, but Christ’s sacrificial death covered our sinful nature like snow covers a dunghill.  The Catholic Church rejects Luther’s doctrine of the depravity of nature and teaches that we are not simply covered, as in the coving of sins in the Old Testament, but we are reborn and transformed (CCC 168, 403).  Our new life in the Spirit provides the fertile soil in which the Holy Spirit continues to provide Christian growth as long as we seek to imitate Christ in our lives and reject sin.

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

Some Protestant churches, confused in their understanding of faith and works, have come to understand through the teachings of Martin Luther that nothing, not even sin can separate us from our salvation.  Some Protestant churches have understood this doctrine to mean once one is “saved” their salvation is eternally secure.  Luther’s doctrine is often called “the doctrine of eternal security” or “security of the believer.”  Luther did not see sin as a hindrance to salvation as long as one prayed and confessed sins.  Quoting from the letters of Martin Luther:

• It does not matter what people do; it only matters what they believe. God does not need our actions (Luther’s Works, Erlangen, vol. 29, page 126).
• Be a sinner and sin boldly, but have stronger faith and rejoice in Christ, who is the victor of sin, death, and the world.  Do not for a moment imagine that this life is the abiding place of justice: Sin must be committed; sin cannot tear you away from him, even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders (Letter from Luther to Melancthon, August 1, 1521).

Luther was not advocating sinning for grace to abound all the more, but that repentance eliminated the stain of sin and offered complete restoration with no ill effects.  He taught that as long as one prayed and confessed the wrong, the sin could not cost one’s salvation since Jesus forgave the sin through His sacrifice on the Cross.  Luther believed that so long as one was truly “saved” through a profession of faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord (the false doctrine of salvation through “faith alone”), one was saved no matter what sin one committed.  St. James refuted this doctrine in James 2:24, and it is the only place in Scripture where the words “faith alone” appear.  Using the Canaanite woman Rahab as an example, James wrote: See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (bold added for emphasis).

St. John the Apostle taught that prayer could not heal all sins, and he distinguished between venial and deadly/mortal sins (see 1 John 3:3-10; 5:16, and CCC# 1854-61).  Mortal sin requires confession to a priest who hears the confession “in the person of Christ.”  God can forgive all sin, even mortal sin, but it is necessary to address one’s accountability for sin through an act of penance.   Forgiveness is one thing, but justice through accountability is another.  Confession, genuine contrition, forgiveness, and an act of penance are all necessary for the restoration of fellowship with God.

Some of our Protestant brothers and sisters point to Romans 8:38 as a proof text for the doctrine of “eternal security”/”security of the believer.”  However, this verse refers to God’s love; it does not address our salvation, and the verse lists demons (powers and principalities), and angels, and things of creation, but it does not mention sin.  Jesus commanded St. John to send seven letters to seven churches in the Book of Revelation.   The “perfect” number seven, in essence, represented all the churches that formed the one true Church of Jesus Christ.  In those letters, Jesus warned that only those who persevere to the end and “prove victorious” will receive the gift of salvation.   If salvation is already assured, why is such a warning necessary, and why is there a need for perseverance?

In his letters, St. Paul continually warned the faithful that salvation was a process that took place during their journey through life. They must carefully guard their salvation on that journey: So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12).  And Paul said of himself: The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18, emphasis added).  Paul also wrote about safeguarding his salvation like someone who is running a race with a clear goal: that goal being his salvation.  He concludes the passage by writing: No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified (1 Cor 9:27).  And just before the passage in our reading of Romans 8:38-39, Paul wrote in Romans 8:24-25: For in hope we are saved.  Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.  If St. Paul was concerned for carefully guarding his salvation, so should we all have the same concern.

Paul wrote that we “hope” for Heaven because, even if we have been justified through our baptism and faithful in our journey to salvation, we know we still might lose our salvation through our own free will by entering into mortal sin.  We must, therefore, cling to the promises of Christ, knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and only we can separate ourselves from the salvation Christ has won for us.  In the sixth century AD, St. Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, wrote: “Spiritual souls are not separated by torments, but carnal souls are sometimes separated by idle gossip.  The cruel sword cannot separate the former, but carnal affections remove the latter.  Nothing hard breaks down spiritual men, but even flattering words corrupt the carnal” (Caesarius of Arles (470-542), Sermons, 82.2).

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

God calls everyone to the feast

GOSPEL—In another deserted place Jesus also reminded people of the lavishness of God. In Matthew’s story of the feeding of the crowd, Jesus calls his disciples to be hosts to the hungry. “There is no need to send them away, you feed them.” The disciples’ reply is often ours. “We haven’t got anything, except five loaves and a couple of fish.” In other words you couldn’t expect us to do much with this.

Jesus said the blessing over the food, broke it and passed it on to the disciples, who in turn, gave the food to the people.

As God so generously feeds us, so we must share this “food” with others. What has been given to us freely so we must give freely to others.

We give the bread and wine of compassion, of mercy, of faithfulness, of, love, of joy. Not just in small doses, measured out, but pressed down flowing over, a banquet not a counter lunch.

The Eucharist is the great sign to us that, as we are fed so must we feed.

Unfortunately we have made our Eucharist table a sign of contradiction; when we exclude people who seek to be feed, who need to be fed. I say we because the laws that keep people away from the table are human laws. People say that discipline is important but Jesus never used it to exclude people from his grace.

The first sign of the beginnings of reconciliation in a family are often when someone accepts the invitation to come to the table. In the warmth of human fellowship, the grace of God has a fertile ground to begin the healing of old hurts. Let us imitate God and call everyone to the feast.

©2005 Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Used with permision.

Jesus feeds the crowd with what the disciples offer

GOSPEL—A little bit of context will help us here: The Feeding of the 5000 occurs in that great narrative section(13:53 to 17:27) which prepares us for the Discourse on the Church in Chapter 18. Jesus is shaping the hearts and minds of his disciples for the role they will have to play in the leadership of that community to which he invites all people. The leaders ofIsrael have not received the message as they might have (13:54~58). Jesus himself will ultimately be rejected and killed as was John the Baptist (14: 1-12). Now, this miracle and sign is given so that those who accept Jesus will know what their proper role and responsibility will be in the assembly here on earth.

Matthew clearly wants us to remember that God does the feeding of the people in the Desert of Sinai after the Exodus. Now, it is Jesus who fulfills that role. Connection is also made with the Prophet Isaiah who sees messianic times as characterized by an abundance of food and drink (Isaiah 25:6). The Messiah has come with this feeding of the multitude here and now. Bread is the sign of salvation which Jesus brings (Matthew 15:26; Isaiah 55:2-3).

We even look forward to that great banquet in heaven at the end of time (Revelation 19:9) every time we are fed by Jesus, in that deserted place of Judea or in the ‘deserts’of our everyday neediness.

The early Christian community must have seen thegreatest significance in this miracle story from the life of Jesus and his disciples. This is the only miracle that is reported in each of the four Gospels. (Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6: 1-13) Matthew understood this miracle story to be intimatelylinked with the action of the Last Supper where Jesus again took, blessed, broke and gave the bread to his apostles. The feeding of the 5000 anticipates that other mighty feeding where the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Moreover, bothof these miracles look forward to the eternal banquet with God the Father in heaven.

If the Church community wants to derive life from the eucharistic feeding and to share eventually in the heavenly feast, it must be willing to bring ‘barley loaves and fish,’ the food of the poor, to the Lord for his use and his blessing. Our poor, sinful lives are all we have to offer. We are expected to bring what we do have and to hold nothing back.

All the hungers of the human heart call out to Christ for satisfaction. Every yearning of our lives represents a need for God thatonly Jesus Christ can satisfy. In the Catholic tradition, we are aware that Jesus continues the ministry of feeding the multitude through the ministries of the Church. We are not only individually responsible for feeding the world, but we are corporately responsible also. As a Church community, we will make Christ visible in society today as we engage the Church in the works of mercy. Our Sunday Eucharist takes on credibility in society when it is intimately linked with the concrete daily needs of people. Hunger for education, hunger for love, hunger for peace, hunger for shelter and for clothing must all the satisfied with the same generosity with which we are willing to share the Eucharist.

©2020 Father Clement D. Thibodeau. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Changing people’s value systems

GOSPEL—In the June 2012 issue of St. Anthony Messenger, I wrote about not appreciating how natural it is to see what we expect to see and nothing more. I stated that all that changed for me after having read Chabris and Simons’ bestselling book The Invisible Gorilla. The two psychologists conducted an experiment in which people were instructed to count the number of passes a specific basketball team made. While the passes were taking place, a person dressed in a gorilla outfit walked among the players, at one time even standing in front of them. When the experimental time expired, the people were asked two questions: How many passes did the team make, and, did anyone see the gorilla. Most participants nailed the exact number of passes, but almost no one noticed the gorilla! Though the gorilla was right in front of their eyes, they didn’t see it. It left no doubt that we usually see what we’re programed to see, not what’s actually taking place in front of us.

Scholars like the late Raymond Brown constantly reminded us that the itinerant preacher we follow never intended to found a church as we know it. He certainly wasn’t concerned with setting up an institution. The reason he preached was to help his disciples see things others never noticed, not because they were bad people, but because they didn’t know what to look for. All of us experience the same reality, but each of us experiences it in different ways.

Matthew believes that, more than anything else, Jesus of Nazareth was concerned with what his followers saw, not with what they knew. As I look back on the “religion classes” of my youth, the emphasis was always on gaining more knowledge. The Baltimore catechism we faithfully used simply got thicker by the year. More pages were added to make certain the older we were as Catholics, the more we knew about Catholicism.

With that knowledge-oriented frame of mind, it bothered me to eventually discover that the historical Jesus never preached to any one community for more than a couple of days. What could they learn in such a short time? I probably knew much more about my faith after just a month of studying my grade school catechism than they’d ever know from such a short period of instruction, especially if a former carpenter from Capernaum was their teacher. I’m no doubt blessed today with much more time and recourses to share the old and new with my community than Jesus ever had with any of his communities.

Perhaps some of us preachers must work at changing our own frames of mind. What are we trying to accomplish by the accumulated hours we spend in preparing our homilies and the environment in which they’re delivered? Are we content to give our communities only an experience of the institutional church instead of God’s kingdom among us? Our sacred Christian authors would certainly contend that if we’re not into helping people change their value systems — to see what Jesus helped his followers to see,  we’re wasting our (and their) time.

©2017 National Catholic Reporter. All Rights Reserved. Sr. Mary McGlone  is a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Her 2020 Reflections can be read at National Catholic Reporter website.

The story of the feeding miracle of the five thousand begins with Jesus withdrawing to a quiet place, probably to pray and to grieve over St. John the Baptist’s suffering and death.  St. Mark tells us that Jesus invited the disciples to join Him, to “rest a while,” and to go by boat to “a deserted place,” which St. Luke records was near Bethsaida on the northeast side of the lake.  In the fourth Gospel, St. John includes the information in Mt 6:3 that Jesus went up onto a “mountain;” the Greek word is oros (also see Mt 14:23 and 15:29 where the inspired writer uses the same word).  It is a significant addition since the word “mountain” has symbolic significance in Scripture associated with revelations of God (cf., Gen 22:2; Ex 19:16-19; 24:12-13; 2 Chr 3:1; Mt 5:1; 17:1-2; Acts 1:11-12; etc.)  Also, see the chart “Holy Mountains of God.” Many people saw them leave and followed them, arriving before them (Mk 6:30-33).

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

Taking pity on the crowds of people because “they were like sheep without a shepherd,” Jesus began to teach them (Mk 6:34).  Sts. Mark and John set the event of the feeding of the five thousand in the early spring when the grass was green.  Large crowds of Jewish pilgrims and Gentile converts were journeying from Asia Minor and Mesopotamia through the Galilee to Jerusalem for the annual festival of Passover and the required pilgrim feast of Unleavened Bread that together covered eight days (Mk 6:39; Jn 6:4).  It is the second Passover of Jesus’ ministry.

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

At first glance, this story of the feeding miracle seems to be only concerned with Jesus’ compassion and His supernatural ability to meet the needs of the people; however, there is so much more to understand the significance of this event.  His miracle feeding recalls other miracle feedings from the Old Testament and allusions to King David, who God anointed to “shepherd” His “flock.”  For example, see Ex 16:4-13, 35; Num 11:31-34; 1 Sam 16:11-13; 2 Sam 5:1-2; 1 Kng 17:8-16; 2 Kng 4:42-44 and Ps 23:

• The feeding miracles associated with Moses in the Exodus journey to the Promised Land in the unending supply of the manna and the two times it rained quail.
• The prophet Elijah caused the widow of Zarephath’s nearly empty jar of meal and her depleted supply of oil to provide food throughout an extended famine.
• The prophet Elisha multiplied twenty loaves of barley bread to feed one hundred men.

And there is the allusion to Jesus as the David-like shepherd who cares for His flock and who leads them to lie down a green pasture as He prepares the table of the Messiah’s banquet before them (Ps 23).  Jesus is the new Moses, the new David, and the prophet to whom the people must listen promised in Deuteronomy 18:15-19.

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

Matthew’s telling of the miracle of feeding the more than five thousand is not only meant to remind us of God’s compassion in the Old Testament but also to prepare us for a greater miracle.  It prepares us for Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse, which took place the day after the miracle feeding.  In that discourse, the Jews saw Jesus’ feeding miracle the day before in the context of Moses’ feeding miracle of the manna.  They recognized Jesus as the new Moses who came to liberate His people and the new David, who came to re-establish the eternal Davidic Kingdom (see Jn 6:14-15; 30-31).  In the Bread of Life discourse, Jesus promises that He will one day give His flesh and blood as food and drink for the salvation of man (Jn 6:22-65).  His miracle feeding and the discourse the next day is a foreshadowing of the giving of Himself in the Eucharist.

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus miraculously transformed five loaves of barley bread (only St. John includes the detail that it was less expensive barley bread in Jn 6:9) and two fishes into enough food to feed the crowd.  First, He tells them to recline in groups on the grass (Mark’s Gospel records that the groups were composed of fifty and one hundred people in Mk 6:39-40).   Then Jesus blessed the bread, broke it, and gave the food to His disciples to distribute to the people.  Scripture records that five thousand men were fed, not counting the women and children, so the number feed was perhaps twice or three times as many.

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

This miracle feeding was a supernatural event and not an example of the people sharing food they already brought with them.  The number five symbolically represents power and grace, and any multiple signifies an abundance of the symbolic nature of the number.  In this case, the number points to the abundance of God’s grace and His supernatural power in meeting the needs of His people.  The five loaves and two fishes may also have symbolic significance.  Together they add up to the number seven; it is also one of the “perfect” numbers (3, 7, 10, and 12), signifying perfection, fullness and completion, especially spiritual perfection (see the document “The Significance of Numbers in Scripture“).

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

Notice how carefully Matthew has provided several similarities between the miracle feeding of the more than five thousand and the miracle feeding at the Last Supper that fulfilled the promise of the Messianic Banquet by the prophet Isaiah in our first reading (see Mt 26:20, 26-30).  Matthew used the same wording and in the same order:

The miracle feeding of the five thousand foreshadowed the first Eucharistic banquet at the Last Supper, but in no way was it the same miracle.  It was not a sacred feast as in the eating of the Passover sacrifice at the Last Supper on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  In the feeding miracle of the more than five thousand, the bread was barley bread (Jn 6:9) and not unleavened wheat bread, and fish was the meat of the meal and not the roasted lamb or goat kid of the Passover sacrifice.  The miracle multiplication of the loaves and fishes prefigures the feeding the Eucharist to the faithful of the world and the promise of the eschatological banquet after the “final harvest” of souls at the end of time (Is 25:6; 62:8-9; 65:13-14; Jer 31:12-14; Ez 44:16; Rev 19:7-9).

The Catechism interprets Jesus’ two miracle feedings of the five and four thousand: “The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributed the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist.   The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already announces the Hour of Jesus’ glorification.  It makes manifest the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father’s Kingdom, where the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ” (CCC 1335).

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

The Jews who took part in the feeding miracle certainly understood it as a miracle similar to the feeding miracles in the Exodus journey (Jn 6:14, 30-31).  The Gospel writers and the early Church Fathers also understood the miracle as prefiguring the feeding miracle of the Eucharist (see Jn 6:22-65).  They also saw it as a prefiguring the promise of the coming eschatological banquet in the heavenly Kingdom (see the verses listed above), recalling the promises of the prophets like Isaiah in our first reading and Isaiah 26:6-8 ~  On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.  On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever.  The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken (Is 26:6-8).  The feeding miracle of the five thousand (not counting women and children) appears in all four Gospels (Mk 6:31-34; Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-13).

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

20 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over, twelve wicker baskets full.  21 Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

That each person had enough to satisfy their hunger may be an allusion to the promise in Deuteronomy 8:9 that covenant obedience will mean that the people will eat bread without stint and where you will lack nothing.  However, the verse also contains the following warning: But when you have eaten your fill, you must bless the LORD, your God (Dt 8:10).  The warning is followed by God’s command to remember the provisions He has made for His people and to be grateful (Dt 8:11).  We should act upon this command for gratitude whenever we receive the Eucharistic “bread of Christ” in the sacrifice of the Mass, and not take the gift for granted.

It is also significant that after everyone ate until they were full, the disciples collected twelve baskets of leftovers.  The Greek word kophinos in verse 20 describes large baskets made of wicker.  It is the same Greek word for the basket used to lower St. Paul over the wall of the city of Damascus (Acts 9:25).  In the symbolic significance of numbers in Scripture, twelve is the number of divine order in government (i.e., the twelve sons of Israel who were the physical fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles who became the spiritual fathers of the new Israel of the New Covenant Church).  In St. John’s Gospel account, the word translated “fragments” or ‘scraps” is the plural in most translations, but in the Greek text, the word is singular and not plural (Jn 6:12).  The Greek the word, klasma (Strong’s #2801), in the singular means a single piece of the “scrap or fragment left over, indicating one whole (IBGE, vol. IV, page 265).  The Gospel of John emphasizes the identity of the fragment (singular) with the original loaves left over from the meal of the five barley loaves (Jn 6:13 NJB).  The unique meaning of this passage was obvious to the early Church as indicated in the Eucharistic Prayer found in the document known as The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, or more simply as The Didache [Teaching]: “Concerning the broken bread: ‘We give Thee thanks, Our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy Servant. To Thee be the glory for evermore.  As this broken bread was scattered over the mountain and then, when gathered, became one, so may Thy Church be gathered from the ends of the earth into Thy Kingdom'” (The Didache, 9:3-4, Eucharistic Prayer; written circa AD 50-120; underlining added for emphasis added).

Agape Bible Study by Michal E. Hunt; used with permission.

Here are some of the Church Fathers that Aquinas uses:

Third Century

• Origen  – Alexandrian biblical critic, exegete, theologian, and spiritual writer; analyzed the Scriptures on three levels: the literal, the moral, and the allegorical
• Cyprian  – pagan rhetorician converted to Christianity; acquired acquired a profound knowledge of the Scriptures and the writings of Tertullian; elected bishop of Carthage; martyred in 258

Fourth Century

• Eusebius  – Bishop of Caesarea; author of Ecclesiastical History, the principal source for the history of Christianity from the Apostolic Age till his own day; also wrote a valuable work on Biblical topography called the Onomasticon
• Athanasius  – Bishop of Alexandria; attended the Council of Nicea; opposed Arianism, in defence of the faith proclaimed at Nicaea—that is, the true deity of God the Son
• Hilary  – Bishop of Poitiers; the earliest known writer of hymns in the Western Church; defended the cause of orthodoxy against Arianism; became the leading Latin theologian of his age
• Gregory of Nazianzus  – one of the “Cappadocian Fathers”; a great influence in restoring the Nicene faith and leading to its final establishment at the Council of Constantinople in 381
• Gregory of Nyssa  – one of the “Cappadocian Fathers”; Bishop of Nyssa; took part in the Council of Constantinople
• Ambrose  – Bishop of Milan; partly responsible for the conversion of Augustine; author of Latin hymns; it was through his influence that hymns became an integral part of the liturgy of the Western Church
• Jerome  – biblical scholar; devoted to a life of asceticism and study; his greatest achievement was his translation of the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate); also wrote many biblical commentaries
• Nemesius  – Christian philosopher; Bishop of Emesa in Syria
• Augustine  – Bishop of Hippo (in northern Africa); a “Doctor of the Church”; most famous work is his Confessions; his influence on the course of subsequent theology has been immense
• Chrysostom  – Bishop of Constantinople; a “Doctor of the Church”; a gifted orator; his sermons on Gen, Ps, Isa, Matt, John, Acts, and the Pauline Epistles (including Hebrews) established him as the greatest of Christian expositors
• Prosper of Aquitaine  – theologian; supporter of Augustinian doctrines; closely associated with Pope Leo I (“the Great”)
• Damasus  – pope; active in suppressing heresy
• Apollinaris of Laodicea  – Bishop of Laodicea; close friend of Athanasias; vigorous advocate of orthodoxy against the Arians
• Amphilochius of Iconium  – Bishop of Iconium; close friend of the Cappadocian Fathers; defended the full Divinity of the Holy Spirit

Fifth Century

• Asterius of Amasea  – Arian theologian; some extant homilies on the Psalms attributed to him
• Evagrius Ponticus  – spiritual writer; noted preacher at Constantinople; spent the last third of his life living a monastic life in the desert
• Isidore of Pelusium  – an ascetic and exegete; his extant correspondence contains much of doctrinal, exegetical, and moral interest
• Cyril of Alexandria  – Patriarch of Alexandria; contested Nestorius; put into systematic form the classical Greek doctrines of the Trinity and of the Person of Christ
• Maximus of Turin  – Bishop of Turin; over 100 of his sermons survive
• Cassion (prob. Cassian)  – one of the great leaders of Eastern Christian monasticism; founded two monasteries near Marseilles; best known books the Institutes and the Conferences
• Chrysologus  – Bishop of Ravenna; a “Doctor of the Church”
• Basil “the Great”  – one of the “Cappadocian Fathers”; Bishop of Caesarea; responsible for the Arian controversy’s being put to rest at the Council of Constantinople
• Theodotus of Ancyra  – Bishop of Ancyra; wrote against the teaching of Nestorius
• Leo the Great  – Pope who significantly consolidated the influence of the Roman see; a “Doctor of the Church”; his legates defended Christological orthodoxy at the Council of Chalcedon
• Gennadius  – Patriarch of Constantinople; the author of many commentaries, notably on Genesis, Daniel, and the Pauline Epistles
• Victor of Antioch  – presbyter of Antioch; commentator and collector of earlier exegetical writings
• Council of Ephesus  – declared the teachings of Nestorious heretical, affirming instead the unity between Christ’s human and divine natures
• Nilus  – Bishop of Ancyra; disciple of St John Chrysostom; founder of a monastery; conducted a large correspondence influencing his contemporaries; his writings deal mainly with ascetic and moral subjects

Sixth Century

• Dionysius Areopagita  (aka Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) – mystical theologian; combined Neoplatonism with Christianity; the aim of all his works is the union of the whole created order with God
• Gregory the Great  – Pope; a “Doctor of the Church”; very prolific writer of works on practical theology, pastoral life, expositions of Job, sermons on the Gospels, etc.
• Isidore  – Bishop of Seville; a “Doctor of the Church”; concerned with monastic discipline, clerical education, liturgical uniformity, conversion of the Jews; helped secure Western acceptance of Filioque clause
• Eutychius (Patriarch of Constan­tinople)  – consecrated the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople; defended the Chalcedonian faith against an unorthodox sect; became controversial later in life
• Isaac (Bp. of Nineveh)  (aka Isaac the Syrian) – monastic writer on ascetic subjects
• Severus (Bp. of Antioch)  – Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch; the leading theologian of the moderate Monophysites
• John Climacus  – ascetic and writer on the spiritual life; later Abbot of Mt. Sinai; best known for his Ladder of Divine Ascent which treats of the monastic virtues and vices
• Fulgentius  – Bishop of Ruspe in N. Africa; scholarly disposition; follower of St. Augustine; wrote many treatises against Arianism and Pelagianism

Seventh Century

• Maximus ( of Constantinople, 645.)  – Greek theologian; prolific writer on doctrinal, ascetical, exegetical, and liturgical subjects

Eighth Century

• Bede (131CESK) – “the Venerable Bede”; a “Doctor of the Church”; pedagogue, biblical exegete, hagiographer, and historian, the most influential scholar from Anglo-Saxon England
• John Damascene  – Greek theologian; a “Doctor of the Church”; defender of images in the Iconoclastic Controversy; expounded the doctrine of the perichoresis (circumincession) of the Persons of the Trinity
• Alcuin  – Abbot of St. Martin’s (Tours); a major contributor to the Carolingian Renaissance; supervised the production of several complete editions of the Bible; responsible for full acceptance of the Vulgate in the West

Ninth Century

• Haymo (of Halberstadt)  – German Benedictine monk who became bishop of Halberstadt; prolific writer
• Photius (of Constantinople)  – Patriarch of Constantinople; a scholar of wide interests and encyclopedic knowledge; his most important work, Bibliotheca, is a description of several hundred books (many now lost), with analyses and extracts; also wrote a Lexicon
• Rabanus Maurus  – Abbot of Fulda in Hess Nassau; later Archbishop of Mainz; wrote commentaries on nearly every Book of the Bible
• Remigius (of Auxerre)  – monk, scholar, and teacher
• Paschasius Radbertus  – Carolingian theologian; wrote commentaries on Lamentations and Matthew, as well as the first doctrinal monograph on the Eucharist, he maintained the real Presence of Christ

Eleventh Century

• Theophylact  – Byzantine exegete; his principal work, a series of commentaries on several OT books and on the whole of the NT except Revelation, is marked by lucidity of thought and expression and closely follows the scriptural text
• Anselm  – Archbishop of Canterbury; a “Doctor of the Church”; highly regarded teacher and spiritual director; famous ontological argument for the existence of God as “that than which nothing greater can be thought”
• Petrus Alphonsus  – Jewish Spanish writer and astronomer, a convert to Christianity; one of the most important figures in anti-Judaic polemics
• Laufranc (prob. Lanfranc)  – Archbishop of Canterbury; commented on the Psalms and Pauline Epistles; his biblical commentary passed into the Glossa Ordinaria