WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:09.400 amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ. Today's miracle, 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:12.439 the story of the multiplication of the loaves 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:16.780 and fishes, is significant in a number of ways. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:22.839 First, I might say, it is one of the few miracles 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:27.359 that our Lord performs that is recorded in all 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:31.829 four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 00:00:33.990 --> 00:00:38.909 Normally, St. John does not repeat one of the 00:00:38.909 --> 00:00:44.509 miracles that are recorded in Matthew, Mark, 00:00:44.570 --> 00:00:51.450 and Luke because, I believe, that he was familiar 00:00:51.450 --> 00:00:55.149 with these Gospels. And one of the features, 00:00:55.210 --> 00:01:01.939 the characteristics of St. John's Gospel is that 00:01:01.939 --> 00:01:06.379 he oftentimes, when he records miracles, he gives 00:01:06.379 --> 00:01:11.599 a spiritual and theological significance and 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.840 explanation for these. And this, of course, is 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:22.140 true in today's Gospel. First of all, our Lord 00:01:22.140 --> 00:01:27.439 had compassion on the multitude. When I read 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:32.400 over this gospel during the past week, that struck 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:39.120 me, how Jesus so often in his ministry has compassion 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:43.260 on the crowd. He feels sorry for them because 00:01:43.260 --> 00:01:48.319 of their physical and spiritual weakness. But 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:53.120 also in today's gospel, the significance of the 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:57.079 multiplication of the loaves and fishes, is that 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:01.640 it looks backwards to something, and it looks 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:06.780 forward to something. It looks back to God having 00:02:06.780 --> 00:02:11.439 compassion and mercy on his people in the Old 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:16.819 Testament, and as recorded in Exodus and Numbers, 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:24.830 he gives them manna from heaven to eat. and allows 00:02:24.830 --> 00:02:29.909 quails to come miraculously and to have them 00:02:29.909 --> 00:02:35.370 be picked up by the people. He also, when they 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:40.669 were thirsty, Moses struck a rock in the wilderness 00:02:40.669 --> 00:02:48.030 and water flowed from there. And St. Paul symbolically 00:02:48.030 --> 00:02:53.110 tells us that rock was Christ. because Christ 00:02:53.110 --> 00:02:57.270 himself says later in the Gospel of St. John, 00:02:57.469 --> 00:03:00.789 too, as a matter of fact, he says to the Samaritan 00:03:00.789 --> 00:03:07.810 woman, the person who drinks the water that I 00:03:07.810 --> 00:03:12.770 give will never thirst again. And naturally, 00:03:12.930 --> 00:03:16.610 the Samaritan woman says, give us this water. 00:03:18.349 --> 00:03:24.240 But in today's Gospel, Our Lord himself provides 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:30.099 the explanation, gives the symbolism of this 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:35.780 multiplication of the loaves and fish. This again 00:03:35.780 --> 00:03:40.099 is recorded in St. John's Gospel. This is chapter 00:03:40.099 --> 00:03:49.000 6. Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Your fathers 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:55.419 ate manna. in the wilderness and they died. This 00:03:55.419 --> 00:04:00.159 is the bread which comes down from heaven that 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:06.900 a man may eat of it and never die. I am the living 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:11.419 bread which came down from heaven. If anyone 00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:16.420 eats of this bread, he will live forever and 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:21.779 the bread which I shall give is for the life 00:04:21.779 --> 00:04:27.360 of the world. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:31.779 I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the 00:04:31.779 --> 00:04:37.459 Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life 00:04:37.459 --> 00:04:43.120 in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:49.139 has eternal life and I will raise him up on the 00:04:49.139 --> 00:04:53.860 last day. So that is how this miracle, it's not 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:57.220 simply one of having compassion and feeding the 00:04:57.220 --> 00:05:01.019 hungry crowd that came to him, but it has symbolic 00:05:01.019 --> 00:05:05.420 importance. It looks back to God feeding his 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:09.399 people in the Old Testament and looks forward. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:14.100 What does it look forward to? The Last Supper, 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:20.129 when Jesus institutes the sacrament of the Holy 00:05:20.129 --> 00:05:25.569 Eucharist, when he changes bread and wine into 00:05:25.569 --> 00:05:30.050 his very body and blood of Christ, which is what 00:05:30.050 --> 00:05:33.709 we are participating in this. That's what each 00:05:33.709 --> 00:05:37.850 and every divine liturgy is. It's being present 00:05:37.850 --> 00:05:43.290 mystically with the apostles and disciples at 00:05:43.290 --> 00:05:47.680 that Last Supper. And as truly as Jesus gave 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:51.379 the bread and the wine, which became his body 00:05:51.379 --> 00:05:56.160 and blood, he gives it to us today, here and 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:01.579 now, in a few minutes. But it also looks forward 00:06:01.579 --> 00:06:07.439 not only to the Last Supper, but this miracle 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:12.860 looks forward to the kingdom of heaven. In St. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:19.920 Luke's Gospel, a man blurts out and says, blessed 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:24.899 is he who eats bread in the kingdom. And this 00:06:24.899 --> 00:06:29.600 was a preface for Jesus' parable of the great 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:34.360 supper, that so many people were invited to this 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:40.819 supper. And so this great supper is a symbolic 00:06:40.819 --> 00:06:48.680 story. about the supper of the kingdom of heaven, 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:54.939 the eternal banquet. How important it is to receive 00:06:54.939 --> 00:06:59.220 Holy Communion, the Church has affirmed since 00:06:59.220 --> 00:07:04.060 the earliest centuries. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:09.660 on his way to martyrdom, said, the Eucharist 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:15.670 is the medicine of immortality. We normally hear 00:07:15.670 --> 00:07:18.769 the choir singing, drink the cup of immortality. 00:07:18.910 --> 00:07:22.889 That's what we're going to do today. St. Cyril 00:07:22.889 --> 00:07:28.329 of Alexandria, a few centuries later, says, the 00:07:28.329 --> 00:07:32.790 person who receives the flesh of our Savior Christ 00:07:32.790 --> 00:07:38.110 and drinks his precious blood shall be one with 00:07:38.110 --> 00:07:44.819 him. Such an awesome gift. this is for us this 00:07:44.819 --> 00:07:49.399 morning, to become one with Christ, to be present 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:53.560 with him at the Last Supper, to eat his flesh 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:58.000 and drink his blood. And this is something that 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.220 I think all of us at times take receiving Holy 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:07.579 Communion routinely. It's something so beautiful 00:08:07.579 --> 00:08:11.639 and sacred that we should not approach it routinely. 00:08:12.839 --> 00:08:15.779 Good way, of course, is preparing for this. That's 00:08:15.779 --> 00:08:21.040 why the church prescribes fasting for those who 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:25.459 are capable of fasting and provides also the 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:30.459 opportunity to cleanse our sins by periodic confession 00:08:30.459 --> 00:08:37.379 and also to have the special prayers, which under 00:08:37.379 --> 00:08:41.309 normal circumstances we should say, either the 00:08:41.309 --> 00:08:45.230 night before or the morning of, attending divine 00:08:45.230 --> 00:08:49.970 liturgy, the prayers of preparation for receiving 00:08:49.970 --> 00:08:55.309 Holy Communion. So today, Lord, make us worthy 00:08:55.309 --> 00:09:00.429 of this great gift that you are giving to us, 00:09:00.610 --> 00:09:06.429 your own body and blood in Holy Communion. Glory 00:09:06.429 --> 00:09:07.470 to Jesus Christ.