Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. MT 4:4
NUMBERS 11:4-15
My Soul's Beloved,
We must learn to pray like Moses. We must bring all our troubles to You and lay them before You with childlike simplicity, telling You exactly what we feel, how helpless we truly are, how incapable of doing anything without divine help and favor. Instead, we become cross, we grumble within ourselves, we become disatisfied, and complain querulously to anyone who will listen.
It is the old Adam still alive in us that constantly looks back like Lot's wife, and we imagine the past better than the present. We think they were the glory days, forgetting all the difficulties and trials we faced then and how we grew and were strengthened because of them. We fail to see ourselves as pilgrims on a journey that will lead us to the Kingdom of God if we remain faithful.
We must grow in virtue day by day. We must be vigilant against grumbling, hardness of heart, and a yearning for pleasure and ease, instead exercising and training ourselves to seek to know God's will and do it in every circumstance of our lives. We cannot do this without the help of the Holy Spirit whom You have given us. Unless we learn to lean on Him and allow Him to lead, guide, and teach us, we will make the journey from this life to the next heavier and more difficult than it needs to be.
The sons of Israel began to wail, ‘Who will give us meat to eat?’ they said. ‘Think of the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic! Here we are wasting away, stripped of everything; there is nothing but manna for us to look at!’
The manna was like coriander seed, and had the appearance of bdellium. The people went round gathering it, and ground it in a mill or crushed it with a pestle; it was then cooked in a pot and made into pancakes. It tasted like cake made with oil. When the dew fell on the camp at night-time, the manna fell with it.
Moses heard the people wailing, every family at the door of its tent. The anger of the Lord flared out, and Moses greatly worried over this. And he spoke to the Lord:
‘Why do you treat your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour with you, so that you load on me the weight of all this nation? Was it I who conceived all this people, was it I who gave them birth, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, like a nurse with a baby at the breast, to the land that I swore to give their fathers”? Where am I to find meat to give to all this people, when they come worrying me so tearfully and say, “Give us meat to eat”? I am not able to carry this nation by myself alone; the weight is too much for me. If this is how you want to deal with me, I would rather you killed me! If only I had found favour in your eyes, and not lived to see such misery as this!’
PSALM 80(81):12-17
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
The manna was like coriander seed, and had the appearance of bdellium. The people went round gathering it, and ground it in a mill or crushed it with a pestle; it was then cooked in a pot and made into pancakes. It tasted like cake made with oil. When the dew fell on the camp at night-time, the manna fell with it.
Moses heard the people wailing, every family at the door of its tent. The anger of the Lord flared out, and Moses greatly worried over this. And he spoke to the Lord:
‘Why do you treat your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour with you, so that you load on me the weight of all this nation? Was it I who conceived all this people, was it I who gave them birth, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, like a nurse with a baby at the breast, to the land that I swore to give their fathers”? Where am I to find meat to give to all this people, when they come worrying me so tearfully and say, “Give us meat to eat”? I am not able to carry this nation by myself alone; the weight is too much for me. If this is how you want to deal with me, I would rather you killed me! If only I had found favour in your eyes, and not lived to see such misery as this!’
PSALM 80(81):12-17
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
My people did not heed my voice
and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart
to follow their own designs.
O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.
The Lord’s enemies would cringe at their feet
and their subjection would last for ever.
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat
and fill them with honey from the rock.
that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.
The Lord’s enemies would cringe at their feet
and their subjection would last for ever.
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat
and fill them with honey from the rock.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
MATTHEW 14:13-21
My Soul's Beloved,
Today's first Reading, together with the Gospel passage chosen for our reflection in the Liturgy of the Holy Mass, shows us how the manna given to God's people in the wilderness, as well as the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fish, were a foretaste of the Holy Eucharist. God always intended to feed us with Himself. Your flesh and blood, which is real food and real drink, enables us to make the journey from exile to the place prepared for us in God's Kingdom.
In the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, which sheds light on the Supper of the Lamb, celebrated daily on every altar of every church throughout the world, God our Father who receives the perfect Sacrifice of His only, beloved Son, gives Him to the rest of His mortal children so we may briefly become immortal and thus experience in advance what we will become in eternity.
After the feeding of the five thousand, You instructed the disciples to collect the leftovers. They filled 12 baskets. This teaches us that the Church will always and until the end of time, when You will return, have the power to feed all the faithful, providing all her members with the supernatural bread we need as we advance in our journey to the Father's house.
When Jesus received the news of John the Baptist’s death he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.
When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they answered ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.’ ‘Bring them here to me’ he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining; twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children
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