Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 25, 2021
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.
A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there he sat down with his disciples.
The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes
and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip,
“Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
“Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little.”
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people recline.”
Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.
So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves
that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
“This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
Jesus’ feeding of five thousand is such a powerful story that often we remember its many details—the crowd’s eagerness to listen, the anxiety of the disciples, Jesus’s gratitude and prayer over the food, and, of course, the voluminous leftovers! One detail, however, has always stood out to me: a young boy’s willingness to share his meal with the disciples that puts the whole miracle into motion.
As a high school teacher, I have supervised students on service opportunities in our southwest-side neighborhood. On a visit to a soup kitchen, I was struck by the commitment of one particular sophomore. Beforehand, I only knew this student in the classroom, but that evening I learned that he volunteered at the kitchen every week, fostering relationships with both the other workers there as well as the frequent visitors who arrived for meals. His enthusiasm was infectious, lifting the spirits and morale of the guests and inspiring everyone in our volunteer group (including me).
I share this story because I see a direct connection between this student selflessly sharing his time and the boy in the gospel who selflessly shares his food. Both actions can seem small, yet they brought huge amounts of hope and joy and also revolved around the sharing of food with strangers. There is something quite sacred in sharing a meal—in both today’s reading and the Last Supper, Jesus teaches his disciples (and us!) how food and fellowship bring sustenance.
This week, I ask myself how can I share my time and my gifts with those around me and in my wider community? How can I let Christ work through me to improve the world around me—one meal at a time? And, as I am reminded today, I never want to underestimate sharing food and companionship.
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
St. James the Greater is patron saint of Spain and of pilgrims—even today, hundreds of thousands of people journey by foot to visit his tomb in Compostela, Spain.
James was son of Zebedee and Salome, brother to St. John, and cousin to Jesus. He is known as “St. James the Greater” or “St. James Major” only because he was older than another disciple who was also named James (referred to as “Lesser” or “Minor”), and was called by Jesus before him.
James the Greater was one of the first disciples to follow Jesus. Matthew’s Gospel describes him on a boat near the seashore mending his fishing nets when Jesus called him and his brother, John; “immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him” (4:21-22).
Even among the Twelve, James held a special place close to Jesus. He was one of the three disciples with Jesus during the Transfiguration, and he was one of the few present when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter (Mt 9), even though everyone thought the girl was dead.
James was the first of the disciples to be matyred—he was beheaded by King Herod in the year 44. Jesus called James “son of thunder” because of his fiery temper, and his proclivity to angry outbursts could have been what got him killed so early.
Tradition holds that James traveled to Spain after Pentecost to preach the risen Christ. He was struggling with this mission until Mary appeared to him upon a pillar (which is still preserved in Zaragoza, Spain) and ordered a church built on the site. After that apparition, James returned to Judea and was killed by Herod. The disciples took his body by boat from the Holy Land back to Spain, and carried it inland to Compostela, where it now rests.
During the Muslim conquest of Spain, his relics were lost, but were recovered in the ninth century and venerated at Compostela. The popularity of St. James grew throughout Spain and beyond, and a network of roads and trails leading to Compostela emerged as pilgrims streamed there. Santiago de Compostela became a pilgrimage site that rivaled Rome and the Holy Land, and hundreds of thousands of faithful still make the pilgrimage today.
The symbols of pilgrims and of Compostela became symbols for St. James as well—the cockle shell (as pictured here in a stained glass window in the Morrissey Hall chapel) and pilgrim’s staff. He is depicted as a pilgrim in this painting by Rembrandt.
St. James is also patron of those who suffer from arthritis, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. James the Greater, the first disciple to give his life for the faith, and the patron of pilgrims, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. James the Greater is available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Last accessed March 20, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
