Reflection for Friday April 29, Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church: John 6:1-15

Gospel: John 6:1-15

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.

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Reflection:

Do you believe that Jesus can do miracles in your life? 

The precursor to Jesus’ miracle of the loaves and fish was a boy who had five barley loaves and two fish; we cannot speak of this miracle without him. The boy was generous enough to give what was for him alone, he did not mind if he would be hungry; he simply shared his food for others to eat.  

Out of the selfless heart of the boy, Jesus miraculously multiplied the five barley loaves and two fish and they were able to feed the more than five thousand followers. And they still had some more to gather and it filled twelve wicker baskets.  

We see here the enormous benefit of selfless sharing; sometimes we don’t share because we think that what we have is only enough for us. However, if we would learn to share we would also notice that what we share comes back to us a hundredfold. It is already immaterial how big or small the food or anything that we share what is important is we are very much willing to share whatever blessing that we have. 

There are similarities in the institution of the Eucharist and this miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. Jesus instituted the Eucharist in remembrance of the Passover meal and coincidentally Jesus did this miracle of the loaves when the Passover feast was near. Jesus also took the loaves and gave thanks and distributed it to them. These are actions that He did during the Institution of the Eucharist.  

Why did Jesus tested Philip? Because Philip had a shaky faith, he was with Jesus all along witnessing His miracles and all. Yet he was still doubtful that’s why Jesus tested him. Are we not like Philip once in a while? We are impatient sometimes and we doubt if Jesus would grant our prayers before Him. 

If only we know that Jesus will never abandon us, yes there would be testing of our faith. For as long as we hold on He will always be there for us in His own time of choosing.  Let us be patient and wait, let us pursue and not give up on our life’s aspirations, ambitions and visions. He will eventually help us achieve what we want. 

After doing the miracles of the loaves and after having so much fragments leftover. Naturally the crowds were amazed. Who would not be? So it’s time now to hail and exalt Jesus with praises. But Jesus would have none of it. True to his humility and self-effacing character He simply walked away to the mountain to be alone perhaps to pray and thank God for the blessing of the miracle of the loaves. 

In this occurrence we see how different is Jesus from us, we love it when we are being honored, praised for the things that we do. We are tickled pink by it and our ears flap in agreement, often times we don’t do things without people noticing us. We want people to see what we do and we want them to praise us (like politicians and public officials). Let us all wake up from this egotism and selfish attitude. – Marino J. Dasmarinas