Give them some food yourselves
JESUS, the Good Shepherd, looks at the vast crowd following him and takes pity on them. He begins to teach them, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). Then, from five loaves and two fish, Jesus feeds the 5,000 men (not counting women and children), after which 12 baskets of leftovers are gathered.
This miraculous feeding points to something that happens in the Eucharistic celebration: the gathering of the assembly, the offering of our human resources, the thanksgiving and blessing of the loaves, the distribution of the fragments, and the eating of the food — all sharing in communion and in fellowship with Jesus and with one another. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist” (n 1335).
Gospel • MARK 6:34-44
When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late. Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out they said, “Five loaves and two fish.” So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass. The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties. Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. Those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.