＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

2 Kings 4:42-44

 A man came from Baal-shalishad bringing bread

And wheat to the man of God. These were from the first part of the harvest, twenty loaves of bar­ley and wheat. Elisha told him, “Give the loaves to these men that they may eat.”

His servant said to him, “How am I to divide these loaves among one hundred men?” Elisha insisted, “Give them to the men that they may eat, for Yahweh says: They shall eat and have some left over.”  So the man set it before them; and they ate and had some left, as Yahweh had said.

 

Ps 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18

The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

Ephesians 4:1-6

 Therefore I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you to live the vocation you have received.   Be humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love.

 Make every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace.  Let there be one body and one spirit, for God, in calling you, gave the same Spirit to all. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.   One God, the Father of all, who is above all and works through all and is in all.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊      

John 6:1-15

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, near Tiberias,   and large crowds followed him because of the miraculous signs they saw when he healed the sick. So he went up into the hills and sat down there with his disciples.   Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

Then lifting up his eyes, Jesus saw the crowds that were coming to him and said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat?” He said this to test Philip, for he himself knew what he was going to do.  Philip answered him, “Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”

Then one of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said,   “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”  Jesus said, “Make the peo­ple sit down.” There was plenty of grass there so the people, about five thousand men, sat down to rest.  Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed them to those who were seated.

He did the same with the fish and gave them as much as they wanted.   And when they had eaten enough, he told his disciples, “Gather up the pieces left over, that nothing may be lost.”  So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with bread, that is with pieces of the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

 When the people saw this sign that Jesus had just given, they said, “This is really the Prophet, he who is to come into the world.”  Jesus realized that they would come and take him by force to make him king; so he fled to the hills by himself.

 

 Gospel Reflection：

Read:

Jesus is being followed by a large crowd of people. Logistics or food is one of the problem. Jesus asks His disciples for a possibility of feeding the crowd. The cost is prohibitive. An alternative is for Jesus to have something to eat and let the people deal with their problem of food.

But the small offering of five barley loaves and two fish from a boy was blessed an broken by Jesus. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish happened afterwards.

Reflect:

The Passover feast is at hand, yet people are out in the open following the Lord and listening to every word that comes from His mouth. What made the people leave houses behind on an important feast such as this? It must have been their hunger for the word of life.

They did not mind missing the celebration of this feast of Passover. They are feasting on something that they normally do not have. The word that Jesus brings them. Yet Jesus, is worried about the physical food that the people need. He asked His disciple about it and their answer is disheartening .

The logistics involed is too huge. They simply are not capable to feed such a large multitude. And this is where we are made aware of our need for the Lord. What is impossible for mere humans is possible with God. With little, that is, the little boy’s offering of five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus feeds the crowd.

And so the gospel tells us today never to despise even the smallest that we offer to God. Its miraculous multiplication will astound us if God wills it.

Respond:

Have we done little initiatives of late to make this world a better place? No matter, even if we start with ourselves, that is already something. Our efforts to recycle, wisely use energy, reduce our carbon footprint or moderate our consumption would help the world to be a better place to live.