How many loaves do you have?

Gen 3,9-24; Ps 89; Mk 8,1-10
16 FEBRUARY

The Lord wants to satisfy the world’s hunger by feeding it on him. He cannot. He is the eternal and divine infinite. He needs the participation of his little creation. God goes in search of hearts. How many hearts do you have? Few. The first heart that is offered to God, in Holy Scripture, is that of Abel, then follows Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, David, all the prophets and the righteous and wise men of Old Testament. But all these hearts are not enough. Instead of seeking, the Lord creates himself a heart, that of the Virgin Mary and in this heart created most pure, immaculate, spotless, full of grace and of the Holy Spirit by Him, his Only Son, his Eternal Word, is made a human heart to be given to the Father for the redemption of humanity. But even this heart is not enough. Others are needed. The first hearts are those of the Twelve, then those of the seventy-two disciples are added, then others and others come and we must always be the ones to ask the Lord to send other hearts. These few hearts of ours are given to God and the Lord uses them to satisfy the world’s hunger with himself.

But this little human is not sufficient by itself. The little created is needed. In order for God to be able to satisfy the hunger of his humanity of himself, it is necessary that some bread is made available to him. He, through the hands and words of his priests, transforms it into the heart of Christ, the body of Christ and the life of Christ. Not only in all of Christ there is also the whole Father and the Holy Spirit, the whole Church, all of humanity and the man who believes in Christ eats it to be satisfied with God, to become heart of love, heart of grace, heart of communion and heart of eternal life for all his brothers. Who nourishes himself with Christ, nourishes himself with his mystery of death and resurrection in favour of the whole world. The little human and the little material must always be given to God. If the minister does not give his heart to God, his voice and his hands, the Eucharist is not made. If the Eucharist is not made, God cannot give himself in it as eternal life to man. Even if he is born as his true son, he lacks in his true nourishment. He is like a tree planted in a fertile soil, but left to itself and left without water. The Eucharist is the true water of life. Even who receives it must give his little to Christ, he must give him his heart so that he transforms it into a Christic heart capable of loving as He loved and loves.

In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, he summoned the disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.” His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied. He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over – seven baskets. There were about four thousand people. He dismissed them and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

We must never be discouraged if our little is really little. It is not the little that prevents Christ Jesus from making the transformation, but it is the little not given, given in half, donated and then taken back, given only with words but not with the heart, the will, the mind and the soul. Today, the crisis of faith is not in the lack of workers. It is not their smallness that prevents Christ the Lord from giving himself as food and drink of eternal life. One gives himself to Christ, but the mind pursues its thoughts, the will chases vices, the body follows its flesh, the soul is like death to truth and light. It is as if we gave the Lord some chaff to make good bread. The chaff contains wheat, but it is not wheat. We give our human envelope to the Lord, but we do not give ourselves in the soul, in the spirit, in the body and in all that we are. Our delivery to the Holy Spirit is without any content. We are little. The little must always be given in full. The Apostles gave Jesus the loaves in their entirety. Jesus multiplied them and filled the crowd with them. The little given according to truth always satisfies the world.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help us to give our little to Jesus according to truth.