Give them some food yourselves

WEDNESDAY 8 JANUARY (Mk 6,34-44)

Jesus tells the Apostles that they will have to be the ones to feed the crowd. They will have to nourish every man with light, truth and eternal life. Saint Paul is announced as the true model of the worker of the kingdom: “If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it! If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my recompense? That, when I preach, I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law – though I myself am not under the law – to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law – though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ – to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it” (1Cor 9,16-23). Who must nourish the people of truth, light and grace, must always be in the workplace. As the shepherd is inseparable from his sheep, so it is for the worker of the Gospel.

He is also the perfect model of true teaching and of true doctrine: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; but since we are judged by (the) Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1Cor 11,23-32). Today the sacraments of salvation are fed, but only as empty, sterile and ineffective rituality. They have been deprived, for lack of nourishment of wisdom, doctrine and science of the things of God, of their eternal truth.

When he 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.

For the Apostles and Ministers of the Lord to give to eat to the people the Bread of the Word and the Bread of the Eucharist according to purity of truth and doctrine, it is necessary that they have the same obedience of Jesus in the Word of the Father and the same love that brought him to sacrifice himself on the altar of the cross. The more they grow in obedience and in love, the more they will devote themselves to the real nourishment of the people. If obedience is absent and love is little, very little, life will soon be handed over to do things of this world, of earth for the earth, but not of heaven for heaven.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that there is never lack of the true nourishment of Christ in the world.