April 24th: All needs met

When we have Jesus in our lives, even though we may be in a lonely, deserted place, we have more than enough to sustain us.

John 6: 1 – 15.

The feeding of the five thousand is John’s Eucharistic sign. The context was hunger and the situation was dire. The people with Jesus were in a deserted place with little or no possibility of getting enough bread to satisfy everyone. Though Jesus asked Philip for a solution, he knew exactly what he was going to do.

Jesus blessed the five loaves and two fish which a little boy had generously offered and with these he fed the five thousand with plenty left over. If they had six months wages to buy bread, it would only give each a little piece. Even that would not have been a viable solution.

Jesus himself was the solution. Having blessed the five loaves and shared them out, everyone had more than they wanted. The true bread, the one that came down from heaven (John 6: 41), is our only real satisfaction.

When we have Jesus in our lives, even though we may be in a lonely, deserted place, we have more than enough to sustain us.