- They say that there are four billion acres of arable land on the earth. This could feed at Maximum standards, forty -seven billion people. It is estimated that we can actually produce enough food for next 100 years.
- The real problem lies in the improper and unjust distribution of wealth and resources, in the money spent for armament, the over-crowding of great numbers in small areas and the careless, unplanted consumption of goods and commodities, together with illiteracy and unemployment and selfishness.
- The miracle of the loaves clearly prefigures the Holy Eucharist and leads up to it. Jesus feeds us everyday with his on body and blood. This should move us to gratitude.
- This miracle informs us very clearly of the place of the disciple in the work of Christ. The story tells us that Jesus gave to the disciples and the disciples gave to the crowd. The same thing happens even today.
- At the end of the miracle there is that strange little touch that the fragments were gathered up. Even when a miracle could feed people sumptuously there was no waste. There is something to note here. God gives to us with munificence, but a wasteful extravagance is never right. God’s generous giving and our wise using must go hand in hand.
We are growing in our selfishness day by day. The sharing mentality is slowly waning. There is an interpretation which says that Jesus fed the crowd by gathering the food from the crowd itself. The boy’s generosity moved others to come forward to share with others. This is only an interpretation but it has a lot to teach us. We do not lack anything but we lack sharing. We need to come out of our selfishness and start learning the great lesson i.e. ‘in giving we receive more’
Courtesy
William Barclay’s Commentary
Words of Eternal life
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