Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 24, 2020
Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”
Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
I love food and feeding people. I guess I should qualify that: I love sweets and baking. I make real food because I have to, but baking and sweets are my favorites to eat and share. Food has always been more than simply fuel for the body for me. It is tastes, textures, smells, memories, relationships, and love. I spend a lot of time thinking about what everyone is going to eat. That’s why I love that Jesus is concerned with how to feed everyone in this familiar gospel.
We know the story and we can picture the thousands gathered to hear Jesus teach. Think about that moment when Jesus asks Philip about getting food for everyone. The best part is that Jesus ‘himself knew what he was going to do.’ He intended to feed all of them, then, as he intends to feed all of us, now. Jesus is always concerned with us, our health and hunger. And he knows what he is going to do; he is going to feed us. He has plans to nourish us. In that time and place, with bread and fish, blessed, broken, and shared in community, and today, every day, in the Eucharist. Jesus blesses, breaks, and shares himself with us—body, blood, soul, and divinity— to feed our hunger.
Jesus was in relationship with the thousands that followed him that day, and he wants to be in relationship with us. Perhaps more powerfully than ever, as we live through times of suspension of Masses, Jesus is inviting us—you and me—to sit down because he wants to feed us, with himself, in the Eucharist. The Eucharistic miracle that we witness in our own day is that Jesus feeds us with his presence in spiritual communion even when we cannot receive him in the food of the sacrament. Will you join me in saying ‘yes’ to his invitation? There is plenty to share and there will even be leftovers.
Prayer
Lord, you fill the starving with good things, but send the rich away empty. May we hunger for you more than for life itself, and may we always share the blessings we have received with those who hunger still. Amen.
Saint of the Day
As a lawyer, St. Fidelis gave special attention to the plight of the oppressed—in fact, he became known as The Poor Man’s Lawyer.
He was born as Mark Rey in Germany in 1577. The more he practiced law, however, the more disenchanted and disgusted he became with the lengths to which his colleagues would go in order to win a case. He decided to leave his life as a lawyer and dedicate his life to God in a religious community.
His brother was a Capuchin Franciscan, so he joined that order, took the name Fidelis, and was ordained a priest. He was zealous in his practice and proclamation of the faith, and once declared, “Woe to me if I should prove myself but a half-hearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned captain!”
He was sent to minister in several different regions of Germany, where he reformed whole cities with his preaching. He also cared for the sick, especially during a severe outbreak of disease. Because of his effectiveness, he was chosen to head a party of Capuchins to go to Switzerland to convert people back to the Catholic faith there.
His preaching was enhanced by his own witness and the hours he would spend in prayer, and many people were inspired by his example. Opponents threatened his life, and tried to rouse people against him by claiming that he was a spy.
One night, his adversaries even shot at him when he was in the pulpit, and tried to storm the church. Friends offered to shelter him, but he declared that his life was in God’s hands, and while he was walking on the road home, he was attacked by a mob of armed men. He asked God to forgive the attackers as they killed him.
The relics of St. Fidelis rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus.
St. Fidelis, the “Poor Man’s Lawyer” who became a priest and was martyred for preaching the faith—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen is in the public domain. Modified from the original. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
