1) Opening prayer

God our Father and protector,
without you nothing is holy,
nothing has value.
Guide us to everlasting life
by helping us to use wisely
the blessings you have given to the world.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) Gospel Reading

Jesus said to his disciples: 'The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off in his joy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.
'Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.

3) Reflection

• The Gospel today presents two brief parables from the discourse of the Parables. Both are similar to each other, but with significant differences to clarify better determinate aspects of the Mystery of the Kingdom, which the parables are revealing.
• Matthew 13,44: The parable of the treasure hidden in the field. Jesus tells a very simple and brief story which could happen in the life of any person. He says: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field; someone finds it and hides it again, then he goes off with great joy, he sells everything he owns and buys the field”. Jesus does not explain, he only says: “The Kingdom of Heaven is similar to a treasure hidden in a field”. In this way he urges the auditors to share with others what this story has aroused in them. I share some points that are discovered: (a) The treasure, the Kingdom, is already found in the field, in life. It is hidden. We go through the field and step over the plants without being aware. (b) The man finds the treasure, just out of chance. He did not expect to find it, because he was not looking for it. (c) Seeing that it is a question of a very important treasure, what does he do? He does what we all would do in order to take possession of the treasure. He goes and he sells everything that he has and he buys the field. And, thus, together with the field he obtains the treasure also, the Kingdom. The condition is to sell everything! (d) If the treasure, the Kingdom, is already in my life, then an important aspect of life begins to have a new value. (e) In this story, what dominates is gratuity. The treasure is found by chance, independently of our programmes. The Kingdom comes! And we must draw the consequences and not allow this moment of grace to go by without bearing fruit.
• Matthew 13,45-46: The parable of the merchant of fine pearls. The second parable is similar to the first one, but with an important difference. Let us try to discover it. The story is the following: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value, he goes off and sells everything he owns and buys it”. I share some points that I have discovered: (a) it is the story of a merchant of pearls. His profession is to look for pearls. This is the only thing that he does in his life: to look for and to find pearls. Looking, he finds a pearl of great value. Here the discovery of the Kingdom is not just by chance, but it is the fruit of a long search. (b) The merchant of pearls knows the value of the pearls, because many persons would like to sell him the pearls that they find. But the merchant does not allow himself to be deceived. He knows the value of his merchandise. (c) When he finds a pearl of great value, he goes and sells everything which he owns and buys the pearl. The Kingdom is the greatest value.
• Summarizing the teaching of the two parables. Both of them have the same objective: to reveal the presence of the Kingdom, but each one reveals it in a diverse way: through the discovery of the gratuity of God’s action in us, and through the effort and the search which each human being makes to discover always better, the sense of his/her life.

4) Personal questions

• A hidden treasure: have I found it sometimes? Have I sold everything in order to be able to buy it?
• To look for pearls: which is the pearl that you are looking for and you have not as yet found?

5) Concluding Prayer

I will sing of your strength,
in the morning acclaim your faithful love;
you have been a stronghold for me,
a refuge when I was in trouble. (Ps 59,16)

1. Opening prayer

Father of all mercies,
in the Name of Christ your Son, we implore you,
send us the Gift,
pour into us your Spirit!

Spirit, Paraclete,
teach us to pray in truth
in the new Temple
who is the Christ.

Spirit, faithful to the Father and to us,
as the dove has its nest,
plead within us incessantly with the Father,
because we do not know how to pray.

Spirit of Christ,
first gift to us believers,
pray within us tirelessly to the Father,
as the Son taught us. Amen.

2. Reading

a) To help us understand the passage:

The Gospel passage is divided into three sections:
vv. 1-4: the prayer that Jesus taught
vv. 5-8: the parable of the insistent friend
vv. 9-13: the teaching on the efficacy of prayer.

b) The text:

1 He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." 2 And he said to them, "When you pray, say:
"Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread; 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation."
5 And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; 7 and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 
9 And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

3. A moment of prayerful silence

- Like the disciples, we too come together around Jesus who prays alone. We gather around Him and in Him all our energies, every thought, every commitment and preoccupation, our hopes and pains… 
- Today it is we who are those disciples who see the Master praying and allow themselves to be involved in his prayer, which, evidently, was quite special. 
- Today his words are addressed to us, the invitation to trust in the love of the Father is addressed to us, We are so taken up with material things, so much seeking “all and immediately”, so spellbound by a thousand things, that then (and only “then”, after some event that shakes us) we discover that they are all really superfluous… 
- Today it is up to us to give voice to the prayer of the Master:Father, hallowed be your name…

4. Some questions

Let us use this occasion to examine our way of praying:
* What does praying mean for me: An obligation? A pause in the search of myself? Presenting God with a list of requests? A pause in the company of the Father? A simple and trusting dialogue with the One who loves me?
* How much time do I give to prayer: some every day? Or once a week or once a month? Occasionally? Systematically? Do I wait until I “feel the need” to pray?
* What is the starting point of my prayer: is it the Word of God? Is it the saint or the liturgical feast of the day? Is it devotion to our Lady? Is it an illustration or icon? Is it the events of my life or those of the history of the world?
* Whom do I meet when I pray: looking deep into myself, when I pray do I speak to one whom I feel to be a judge or to a friend? Do I feel Him to be an “equal” or someone who is “holy”, infinite or unattainable? Is He near to me or far and indifferent? Is He my Father or my master? Does He care for me or “is He busy with His own affairs”?
* How do I pray: do I pray a little mechanically, using set formulae? Do I pray using passages from the Psalms or other Biblical texts? Liturgical texts? Do I choose to pray spontaneously? Do I look for texts using beautiful words or do I prefer to repeat a short phrase? How do I use “the Lord’s prayer”? Do I more often find myself invoking God for some need or to praise Him in the liturgy or to contemplate Him in silence? Am I able to pray while I am working or in any place or only when I am in church? Am I able to make liturgical prayer my own? What place does the Mother of God have in my prayer?

5. A key to the reading

This passage presents prayer as one of the fundamental requirements and a key point in the life of a disciple of Jesus and of the community of disciples.

vv. 1-4: Jesus, like other great religious masters of his time, teaches his followers a prayer that will define them: the “Our Father”.

a) Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray”: Jesus goes aside to pray. In Luke’s Gospel he does this often (5: 16), above all just before important events: before choosing the Twelve (6: 12-13), before soliciting Peter’s confession of faith (9: 18-20), before the transfiguration (9: 28-29) and, finally, before the passion (22: 40-45).
As Jesus prays, he arouses in his disciples the desire to pray like him. Clearly, it is a prayer that shows itself externally in a very special way and that certainly affects his preaching. The disciples understand that such a prayer is quite different from that taught by other spiritual masters in Israel or even by the precursor of Jesus. That is why they ask him to teach them to pray. Thus, the prayer that Jesus passes on to his disciples becomes the characteristic expression of their ideal and identity, of their way of relating to God and among themselves.

b) Father: The first thing that Jesus teaches on prayer is to call God “Father”. Matthew, unlike Luke, does not add the adjective “our”, stressing less the community aspect of the Christian prayer. On the other hand, the fact of invoking the Father, constitutes the best adhesive element of the community of disciples.
For a Jew of the first century, relationship with one’s father was one of intimacy, but also a recognition of the father’s authority over every member of the family. This is reflected in the Christian custom of calling God “Father”, whereas there is no certain evidence that the Jews of the time used to call God with the intimate term of “abba”. This term is none other than the emphatic form of the Aramaic “ ’ab”, the familiar and respectful term used for earthly fathers.
The fact that Jesus used to turn to God and called him abba, shows the new kind of relationship that He, and therefore his disciples, establish with God: a relationship of closeness, familiarity and trust.
In the classical scheme of Biblical prayer, the first part of the “our Father” deals directly with God, whereas the second part refers to the needs of humankind in its earthly existence.

c) Father, hallowed be your name: in the message of the prophets of Israel, it is God who “sanctifies His own Name” (that is, himself: “the name is the person”) intervening with power in human history, notwithstanding that Israel and the other peoples have dishonoured Him.. In Ezekiel we read: “But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.' But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel caused to be profaned among the nations to which they came. "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. For I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land.” (36: 20-24). On the same subject we may also read: Dt 32: 51; Is 29: 22; Ez 28: 22. 25).
The subject of the verb “to hallow”, in Lk 11: 2, is God Himself: we are faced with a “theological passive”. This means that the first petition of this prayer does not concern human beings and their unquestionable duty to honour and respect God, but God the Father Himself who must make Himself known as such to all. Thus, we petition God to reveal Himself in His sovereign greatness: this is an invocation with eschatological connotations, closely connected with the following petition.

d) Your Kingdom come: the great event proclaimed by Jesus is the definitive coming of the Kingdom of God among us: “Be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near” (Lk 10:11; cfr also Mt 10: 7). The prayer of Jesus and of the Christian, then, is in close harmony with this proclamation. Asking in this prayer that this Kingdom be ever more visibly present, has, in fact, two effects: the person praying has to come face to face with the eschatological design of God, but also with the obligation of a radical willingness to serve His will of salvation. Thus, if it is true that we may and must present our needs to God the Father, it is also true that Christian prayer never has man and woman for its end, it is never a selfish petition, but its ultimate end is to glorify God, implore his full closeness, his complete manifestation: “Set your hearts on his kingdom, and these other things will be given you as well” (Lk 12: 31).

e) Give us this day our daily bread: we have come to the second part of the Lord’s prayer. The person praying has now put into place the correct and intimate relationship with God, and now lives in the logic of closeness to God who is Father and his/her petitions flow from this way of life. 
In Jesus’ time as in ours (almost!), bread is the most necessary food, the primary nourishment. In this case, however, “bread” stands for food in general and, more, all kinds of material needs of the disciples. 
The English term ”bread” is a translation of the Greek “epiousion”, found also in Matthew but not in any other Greek biblical or profane text. This makes it difficult to give a really reliable version, so much so that we are constrained to translate it according to the context. 
What is clear, however, is that the disciple who is praying in this way, is aware of not having much material security for the future, not even for his/her daily food: he/she has really “left everything behind” to follow Christ (cfr Lk 5: 11). Here we are dealing with a situation characteristic of the early generations of Christians. This is not to say that the prayer for “bread” may not be very useful for Christians of today: we are all called to receive all things from Providence, as a free gift from God, even if these things come from the labour of our hands. The Eucharistic offertory reminds us of this all the time: we offer to God that which we know well we have received from Him so that we may receive it back from His hands. This also means that the Christian of every age must not be preoccupied with his/her material situation, because the Father will take care of him/: “That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. For life means more than food, and the body more than clothing” (Lk 12: 22-23).

f) Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us: The Christian, immersed in the salvation given by the Father with the coming of His kingdom, know that all his/her sins are already forgiven. This places him/her in the condition and obligation of having to forgive others, thus allowing God to render definitive the pardon of the Christian capable of pardoning (cfr Mt18: 23-35).
We are always hovering between the kingdom “already” present and kingdom “not yet” attained. A Christian who behaved contrary to the salvation already received from God in Christ, renders useless the forgiveness he/she has already received. That is why Luke says: “for we ourselves forgive”: Luke does not wish to place us humans on the same level as God, but only to make us aware that we can frustrate the saving work of God, within which the Father has willed to include us as an active element, to extend His every free pardon to all.

vv. 5-8: more than a parable, this is a similitude, because it illustrates a typical behaviour that arouses in listeners a univocal and spontaneous reply. In this case, it would be difficult to find anyone who would spontaneously reply “no one!” to the question“Which of you… ?” (v. 5) Thus, this passage wishes to show us how God acts through the filter of human behaviour, which is a poor copy of the behaviour of the Father. 
The scene takes place in a Palestinian situation. Usually, anyone going on a journey would start at sunset in order to avoid the very high temperatures of daytime. In Palestinian houses at that time, there was only one room and the whole family used it for all the activities during the day as well as for sleeping at night by just spreading straw mats on the floor. 
The request of the man who suddenly has to receive an unexpected guest in the middle of the night, reflects a typical sense of hospitality in ancient peoples, and the explanation of the request for “three loaves” (v. 5) is that this was the normal meal for an adult.
The man who has recourse to his friend at night is the image of a disciple of Christ, called to pray to God always and everywhere, full of trust that he/she will be heard, not because he/she has worn Him out, but because He is a merciful Father who is faithful to His promises. Thus the parable shows us how a disciple should pray the “our Father”: with complete trust in God, loving and just Father, a trust that goes even to cheekiness, that is to “disturbing Him” at any time and to insist with Him in every way, certain of being answered.
Prayer, as a basic attitude of every Christian who wishes to really be a disciple of Jesus, is well expressed by the apostle Paul: «Pray always, in all things give thanks; this indeed is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you» (1Ts 5: 17-18) ; «Pray all the time, asking for what you need, praying in the Spirit on every possible occasion. Never get tired of staying awake to pray for all the saints» (Ef 6: 18).

vv. 9-13: the last part of our Gospel is that properly called didactic. It resumes the theme of the previous verses, emphasising the trust that must characterise Christian prayer, founded on the solid rock of faith. It is the faith of the praying person that opens wide the doors of the Father’s heart, and it is the very identity of the Father who loves to carry in his arms his children and to console themwith the tenderness of a mother (cfr Is 66: 12-13) that which must nourish the faith of Christians. 
God is a Father who loves to receive requests from his children, because this shows that they put their trust in Him, for to ask they have to approach Him with open hearts, for asking urges them to look at His kind and loving face, for by asking (even indirectly) they show that they believe that He is really the Lord of history and of the world, and, above all, because their asking allows Him to show openly His delicate, attentive and free love, solely directed for the good of His children. What displeases the Father is not the insistence or indiscretion of His children in asking, but that they do not ask sufficiently, remaining silent and almost indifferent to Him, that they stay away with a thousand respectful excuses, such as “He already knows everything”, etc. God is certainly a Father who provides all thing and takes care of the daily life of His children, but, at the same time, He also knows what is best for them, even better than they do. That is why He pours out on Christians so many good things and, above all, the gift par excellence: the Spirit, the only truly indispensable gift for their life, the gift who, if allowed to act, will make them authentic children in the Son.

6. A time of prayer: Psalm 104

To the merciful and provident God, who created the marvellous harmony of the cosmos and who placed in it humankind as His “vicar”, let us sing the psalm:

Bless Yahweh, my soul, Yahweh, my God, 
how great you are! 
Clothed in majesty and splendour,
wearing the light as a robe! 
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
build your palace on the waters above, 
making the clouds your chariot, 
gliding on the wings of the wind,
appointing the winds your messengers, 
flames of fire your servants.
You fixed the earth on its foundations, 
for ever and ever it shall not be shaken;

you covered it with the deep like a garment, 
the waters overtopping the mountains.
At your reproof the waters fled, 
at the voice of your thunder they sped away,
flowing over mountains, down valleys, 
to the place you had fixed for them;
you made a limit they were not to cross, 
they were not to return and cover the earth.
In the ravines you opened up springs, 
running down between the mountains,
supplying water for all the wild beasts; 
the wild asses quench their thirst,
on their banks the birds of the air make their nests, 
they sing among the leaves.
From your high halls you water the mountains, 
satisfying the earth with the fruit of your works:
for cattle you make the grass grow, 
and for people the plants they need, 
to bring forth food from the earth,
and wine to cheer people's hearts, 
oil to make their faces glow, 
food to make them sturdy of heart.

The trees of Yahweh drink their fill, 
the cedars of Lebanon which he sowed;
there the birds build their nests, 
on the highest branches the stork makes its home;
for the wild goats there are the mountains, 
in the crags the coneys find refuge.

He made the moon to mark the seasons, 
the sun knows when to set.
You bring on darkness, and night falls, 
when all the forest beasts roam around;
young lions roar for their prey, 
asking God for their food.
The sun rises and away they steal, 
back to their lairs to lie down,
and man goes out to work,
to labour till evening falls.

How countless are your works, Yahweh, 
all of them made so wisely! 
The earth is full of your creatures.
Then there is the sea, 
with its vast expanses teeming with countless creatures, 
creatures both great and small;
there ships pass to and fro, 
and Leviathan whom you made to sport with.
They all depend upon you, 
to feed them when they need it.

You provide the food they gather, 
your open hand gives them their fill.
Turn away your face and they panic; 
take back their breath and they die and revert to dust.

Send out your breath and life begins; 
you renew the face of the earth.
Glory to Yahweh for ever! 
May Yahweh find joy in his creatures!
At his glance the earth trembles, 
at his touch the mountains pour forth smoke.

I shall sing to Yahweh all my life, 
make music for my God as long as I live.
May my musings be pleasing to him, 
for Yahweh gives me joy.
May sinners vanish from the earth, 
and the wicked exist no more! 
Bless Yahweh, my soul.

7. Closing prayer

Good and holy Father, your love makes us brothers and sisters and urges us to come together in your holy Church to celebrate with life the mystery of communion. You call us to share the one bread, living and eternal, given to us from heaven. Help us also to know how to break, in the love of Christ, our earthly bread, so that our bodily and spiritual hunger may be satisfied. Amen

The multiplication of the loaves for the hungry
Jesus teaches sharing
Luke 9:10-17

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help us read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection. 
Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.

2. Reading

a) A key to the reading: the literary context:

Our text comes from the middle of Luke’s Gospel: Jesus expands and intensifies his mission in the villages of Galilee and he sends the twelve disciples to help him (Lk 9:1-6). This news reaches the ears of Herod, the same who had John the Baptist killed (Lk 9:7-9). When the disciples come back from their mission, Jesus invites them to go to a solitary place (Lk 9:10). Then follows our text concerning the multiplication of the loaves (Lk 9:11-17).
Immediately after this, Jesus asks: “Who do people say that I am?” (Lk 9:18-21). Then, for the first time, he goes on to speak of his passion and death and the consequences of all this for the disciples (Lk 9:22-28). Then we have the Transfiguration where Jesus speaks with Moses and Elijah concerning his passion and death in Jerusalem (Lk 9:28-43). There follows another proclamation of his passion, to the consternation and incomprehension of his disciples (Lk 9:44-50). Finally, Jesus decides to go to Jerusalem to meet his death (Lk 9:52).

b) A division of the text as an aid to its reading:

Luke 9:10: They go to a place apart.
Luke 9:11: The crowd learns that Jesus is there and he welcomes them.
Luke 9:12: The disciples worry about the people going hungry.
Luke 9:13: Jesus makes a suggestion and the reply of the disciples.
Luke 9:14-15: Jesus’ initiative to resolve the problem of the people’s hunger
Luke 9:16: Eucharistic connotations and sense
Luke 9:17: The great sign: all will eat

c) The text:

10 On their return the apostles told him what they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a city called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him; and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those who had need of healing. 12 Now the day began to wear away; and the twelve came and said to him, "Send the crowd away, to go into the villages and country round about, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a lonely place." 13 But he said to them, "You give them something to eat." They said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish -- unless we are to go and buy food for all these people." 14 For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, "Make them sit down in companies, about fifty each." 15 And they did so, and made them all sit down. 16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And all ate and were satisfied. And they took up what was left over, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

3. A moment of prayerful silence

so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) What did you like best and what struck you most in the text?
b) In what situation does the crowd find itself according to the text?
c) What is the reaction or feeling of the disciples before the situation of the crowd?
d) What is the reaction or feeling of Jesus before the situation of the crowd?
e) Which facts from the Old Testament story does this text recall?
f) Do you know of any initiatives of persons who, today, give the hungry crowd food to eat?
g) How do we help the crowd? Do we distribute fish or do we teach them to fish?

5. A key to the reading

for those who wish to go deeper into the theme.

a) The historical context of our text:

The historical context of Luke’s Gospel always has two aspects: the aspect of the times of Jesus, that is, the 30’s in Palestine, and the context of the Christian communities of the 80’s for whom he is writing his Gospel. 
At the time of Jesus in Palestine, the people lived in expectation of a Messiah who would be a new Moses and who would repeat the great signs worked by Moses in Exodus: leading the people through the desert and feeding them with manna. The multiplication of the loaves in the desert was for the crowd a sign that the messianic time had come (cf. Jn 6:14-15).
In Luke’s time, in the Greek communities, it was important to confirm the Christians in the conviction of their faith and to give them direction in the midst of difficulties. The way Luke describes the multiplication of the loaves, recalls the celebration of the Eucharist as celebrated in the communities in the 80’s, and helps them to deepen their understanding of the Eucharist in their daily lives. Besides, in his description of the multiplication of the loaves, as we shall see, Luke recalls important figures in the history of the people of God: Moses, Elijah and Elisha, thus showing that Jesus is truly the Messiah who is to come to fulfil the promises of the past.

b) A commentary on the text:

Luke 9:10: Jesus and the disciples go apart in a lonely place
The disciples return from the mission to which they were sent (Lk 9:1-6). Jesus invites them to go to a lonely place near Bethsaida, north of Lake Galilee. Mark’s Gospel adds that he invites them to rest a little (Mk 6:31). When Luke describes the mission of the 72 disciples, he is also describing Jesus’ revision of his missionary activity, an activity carried out by the disciples (Lk 10: 17-20).

Luke 9:11: The crowd seeks Jesus and Jesus welcomes them
The crowd knows where Jesus went and they follow him. Mark is more explicit. He says that Jesus and the disciples went by boat whereas the crowd followed on foot by another road to a specific place. The crowd arrives before Jesus (Mk 6:32-33). When Jesus arrives at the place of rest, He sees the crowd and welcomes them. He speaks to them of the Kingdom and heals the sick. Mark adds that the crowd was like sheep without a shepherd. Before such a situation, Jesus reacts as a “good shepherd”, leading the crowd by his words and feeding them with loaves and fishes (Mk 6,34ff).

Luke 9:12: The worry of the disciples and the hunger of the crowd
The day is fading, it is almost sunset. The disciples are worried and ask Jesus to send the crowd away. They say that it is impossible to find food sufficient for so many people in the desert. For them, the only solution is to let the people go to nearby villages to buy bread. They cannot imagine any other solution.
Reading between the lines of this description of the situation of the crowd, we find something very important. People forget to eat in order to stay with Jesus. This means that Jesus must have known how to attract people, even to the point that they forget everything to follow him in the desert.

Luke 9:13: Jesus’ suggestion and the reply of the disciples
Jesus says: “You give them something to eat”. The disciples are frightened, because they only have five loaves and two fish. But it is they who must solve the problem and the only thing that comes to their mind is to send the crowd away to buy bread. They can only think of the traditional solution, namely that someone has to obtain bread for the people. Someone has to get money, buy bread and distribute it among the crowd, but in the desert such a solution is impossible. They cannot see any other possibility. In other words, if Jesus insists on not sending the crowd away, then there is no solution to the hunger of the crowd. It does not occur to them that the solution could come from Jesus and from the crowd itself.

Luke 9:14-15: Jesus’ initiative to solve the problem of the hunger
There were five thousand persons. A lot of people. Jesus asks the disciples to make them sit in groups of fifty. It is at this point that Luke begins to use the Bible to throw light on the facts of Jesus’ life. He recalls Moses. It was Moses who first gave the hungry crowd something to eat in the desert after leaving Egypt (cf. Num chs. 1 to 4). Luke also recalls the prophet Elisha. It was he, in fact, who in the Old Testament, had made that a few loaves were more than sufficient to feed a multitude (2 Kings 4:42-44). The text suggests, then, that Jesus is the new Moses, the new prophet who must come into the world (cf. Jn 6:14-15). The multitude of the communities knew the Old Testament, and half an allusion would have been sufficient for them. Thus they discover gradually the mystery that is unfolding in the person of Jesus.

Luke 9:16: Recalling the Eucharist and its meaning
When the people sit on the ground, Jesus multiplies the loaves and asks the disciples to distribute them. It is important to note the way Luke describes this action. He says: “Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, raised his eyes to heaven, and said the blessing over them; then he broke them and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the crowd”. This manner of speaking to the communities of the 80’s (and of all times) recalls the Eucharist. For these very words will be used (and are still used) in the celebration of the Supper of the Lord (22:19). Luke suggests that the Eucharist must lead to the multiplication of the loaves, that is, to sharing. It must help Christians to take care of the concrete needs of the neighbour. It is the bread of life that gives courage and leads the Christian to face the problems of the crowd in a new way, not from outside, but from among the crowd.

Luke 9:17: The great sign: all will eat
All will eat, all will be satisfied and there will be basketsful left over! An unexpected solution, performed by Jesus and born from within the crowd itself, beginning from the little that they had brought, five loaves and two fish. And there were twelve baskets full of scraps after the five thousand had eaten of the five loaves and two fish!

c) A deepening: The greater miracle:

Some will ask: “There was no miracle then? It was just a sharing?” Here are three reflections by way of an answer:

A first reflection: Which would be the greater miracle today: for instance, that on a certain day of the year, say Christmas, everyone has enough to eat and receives a Christmas hamper; or perhaps that people begin to share their bread so that no one goes hungry and there would be leftovers for other crowds. Which would be the greater miracle? What do you think?

A second reflection: The word Miracle (miraculum) comes from the verb to admire. A miracle is an extraordinary action, outside the normal, that causes admiration and leads to think of God. The greatmiracle, the greatest miracle of all, is (1) Jesus himself, God made man! Thus God becomes extraordinarily human as only God can be human! Another great miracle is (2) the change that Jesus succeeds in working among the crowd that is used to solutions from outside. Jesus succeeds in making the crowd face its problem from within and to take into account the means at their disposal. A great miracle, an extraordinary thing is (3) that through this gesture of Jesus’, all eat and there are leftovers! When we share, there is always more... and leftovers! So there are three great miracles: Jesus himself, the conversion of people and the sharing of goods leading to an abundance! Three miracles born of a new experience of God as Father revealed to us in Jesus. This experience of God changed all mental categories and the way of life, it opened an entirely new horizon and created a new way of living together with others. This is the greatest miracle: another world made possible!

A third reflection: It is difficult to know how things happened. No one is saying that Jesus did not work a miracle. He worked many miracles! But we must not forget that the greatest miracle is the resurrection of Jesus. Through their faith in Jesus, people begin to live in a new way, sharing bread with the brothers and sisters who have nothing and are hungry: “None of their members was ever in want, as all those who owned land or houses would sell them, and bring the money from them to present it to the apostles” (Acts 4:34-35). When a miracle is described in the Bible, the greater attention is drawn not towards the miraculous aspect, but rather towards the meaning the miracle has for life and for the faith of the community of those who believe in Jesus, the revelation of the Father. In the so-called “first world” of the so-called “Christian” countries, animals have more to eat than human beings of the “third world”. Many people are hungry! This means that the Eucharist has not taken deep root yet nor does it reach out as it could and should.

6. The prayer of a Psalm: 81(80)

The God who frees and feeds his people

Sing aloud to God our strength; 
shout for joy to the God of Jacob! 
Raise a song, sound the timbrel, 
the sweet lyre with the harp. 
Blow the trumpet at the new moon, 
at the full moon, on our feast day. 
For it is a statute for Israel, 
an ordinance of the God of Jacob. 
He made it a decree in Joseph, 
when he went out over the land of Egypt. 
I hear a voice I had not known: 
"I relieved your shoulder of the burden; 
your hands were freed from the basket. 
In distress you called, and I delivered you; 
I answered you in the secret place of thunder; 
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. 
Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! 
O Israel, if you would but listen to me! 
There shall be no strange god among you; 
you shall not bow down to a foreign god. 
I am the Lord your God, 
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 
"But my people did not listen to my voice; 
Israel would have none of me. 
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, 
to follow their own counsels. 
O that my people would listen to me, 
that Israel would walk in my ways! 
I would soon subdue their enemies, 
and turn my hand against their foes. 
Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him, 
and their fate would last for ever. 
I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, 
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, your mother, not only listen to but also practise the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen