The Feeding of the Five Thousand. What's it all about? That Christ will feed his people. With what? With the Word of God, as Jesus tells us in his temptation in the wilderness "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread," says Satan, and the Lord replies, "Man shall not live on bread alone but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God."
Yes indeed, the Word of God is the food of the people of God. In Old Testament times the Divine Word was given through the Law and the Prophets, which is signified in the elements of the miracle.
Five loaves for the five books of the Law, the Mosaic Pentateuch. And note, the loaves are made of prophetic barley; the greatest prophet, Elisha, multiplied 20 barley loaves to feed one hundred men. So the loaves stand for the nourishment of the Word of God delivered by Law and Prophecy.
This will feed the great multitude of God's people, represented by the fish in the Gospel. Our minds go instantly to the fifth day of creation in Genesis, where God blesses the birds and the fish, "be fruitful and multiply." And to Abraham, "Your descendants shall be as many as the stars of heaven," and in Christ's words, "I will make you fishers of men."
But the fish are also food, the people of God fed by the Word of God, which is, quite literally, Christ himself. He who is the Word, the Logos, will sustain and nourish his people with himself. He says as much a little later in John's Gospel.
"I am the bread of life," again, "Unless you eat of the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life within you." And more, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day..."
Let's cut to the chase. Where do we find this supernatural nourishment, this bread from heaven? In the Word, obviously. In what he said, as recorded in Scripture and the Apostolic teaching of the Church, which is Christ's teaching; in prayer and in every good thing, but most specifically?
In the Sacrament of the Altar, in the Mass. This is my Body... this is my Blood. Flesh and Blood, loaves and fish, which we must eat to have eternal life, the divinizing life of God himself. And there you have it, manna from heaven.
Rejoice, laetare, at the saving glory of this, disregard it at your peril. Here endeth the short sermon.
In Nom.,
LSP
