Matthew 14:13-21
At that time: When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a desolate place by himself.
But when the crowds heard it,
they followed him on foot from the towns.
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd,
and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said,
‘This is a desolate place, and the day is now over;
send the crowds away to go into the villages
and buy food for themselves.’
But Jesus said,
‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’
They said to him,
‘We have only five loaves here and two fish.’
And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’
Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass,
and taking the five loaves and the two fish,
he looked up to heaven and said a blessing.
Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples,
and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
And they all ate and were satisfied.
And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
And those who ate were about five thousand men,
besides women and children.
PROMPTS FOR FAITH-SHARING
Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord calls to all who hunger and thirst to come to him and be satisfied. How does your parish community reach out to those who hunger and thirst, either physically or spiritually.
In the letter to the Romans, St Paul boldly proclaims that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Is there an individual in your life who is in need of this message? How might you express it to this person?
Many times in the gospels we hear of Jesus going off to a ‘lonely place’ by himself in order to pray. Where do you find solace and quiet to pray?
Jesus’ miracles show us what life is like in the kingdom of God. From today’s miracle of feeding the five thousand from the five loaves and two fish, what message do you receive about the kingdom?