18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) 08-03-08

Scripture Readings
First Isaiah 55: 1-3
Second Romans 8:35, 37-39
Gospel Matthew 14:13-21

Prepared by: Fr. Allen B. Moran, O.P.

1. Subject Matter
• First Reading: Only the LORD and His wisdom can slake the thirst and relieve the hunger of
the human person who searches for salvation, truth, and transcendence. Unlike all its would-
be rivals, what the LORD gives is free.
• Second Reading: Possessing the transcendent love of Christ is unlike the possession of
anything else. No matter how threatening something may appear there is nothing that can
force us to be separated from the love of Christ. Paul adjures the Roman Christians to be
steadfast in Christ amidst every temptation and trial, because only the believer through the
abuse of his free will has the power to separate himself Christ.
• Gospel Reading: Christ’s compassion for the vast crowd is displayed in healing their sick and
miraculously providing food for them in the wilderness. He cures and then gives nourishment
for growth; he gives natural salvation in a miraculous way that points to the supernatural
salvation that he will bring. The “too little” of the five loaves and two fishes is turned into the
“too much” of the twelve baskets of fragments through his own command signaling his
greatness.

2. Exegetical Notes
• The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle of Jesus that is recounted in all four
gospels. The principal reason for that may be that it was seen as anticipating the Eucharist
and the final banquet in the kingdom (Matthew 8:11; 26:29), but it looks not only forward but
backward, to the feeding of Israel with manna in the desert at the time of the Exodus (Exodus
16), a miracle that in some contemporary Jewish expectation would be repeated in the
messianic age (2Ba 29:8). It may also be meant to recall Elisha's feeding a hundred men
with small provisions (2 Kings 4:42-44). (NAB)
• There are many clear verbal parallels between the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes
in Mt. 14:13-21 and the institution of the Eucharist in Mt. 26:20-29. The connection between
the two is undeniable. (Turner)
• “Typologically, as God miraculously met the needs of his people in former days through
Moses [Ex. 16:13-14], Elijah [1 Kg. 17:8-16], and Elisha [2 Kg. 4:1-7, 42-44], so God meets
their needs ultimately through his beloved Son, the definitive prophet and teacher of Israel,
Jesus (Ps. 132:13-18; cf. Pss. 107:9; 147:14)…The detail that there are twelve baskets of
food left over is probably significant…The point is that in Jesus the Messiah there is
abundant shalom, full of blessings for Israel.” (Turner)
• There starts in this section of Gospel of Matthew (14:13-16:12) an instruction of the disciples
leading up to Peters profession of faith in which the theme of bread plays a recurring role in
the beginning (14:13-21), middle (15:32-39), and end (16:5-12). (Wansbrough)
• Concerning the comparison with Elisha’s miraculous feeding, only the numbers differ.
Instead of twenty loaves to feed one hundred men, Jesus uses five to feed five thousand with
plenty leftover. This shows that Jesus is much greater than Elisha and the plentitude of the
Messianic era. Further allusions to the OT background are not wanting. The miracle takes
place “in a deserted place,” alluding to the feeding in the desert in Exodus. The people are
told to “sit down on the grass,” an allusion to Ps. 23:2 in the prophecy of the feeding by the
messianic shepherd. (Wansbrough)
• There is a clear continuity between this messianic feeding and the Eucharist expressed in the
words and phrases: blessed, broke, gave to his disciples. Each of these words occurs in
almost identical form at the account of the last supper, already then familiar to Christians
from the liturgy. Likewise Matthew’s reference to the time when this miracle took place,
“when it was evening,” parallels that of the institution of the Eucharist (Mt. 26:20).
(Wansbrough)

3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church

• CCC 27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God
and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth
and happiness he never stops searching for: The dignity of man rests above all on the fact
that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to
man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him
through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully
according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.
(GS 19 # 1)

• CCC 51 "It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known
the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through
Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine
nature." (DV 2; cf. Eph 1:9; 2:18; 2 Pt 1:4)
• CCC 52 God, who "dwells in unapproachable light", wants to communicate his own divine life
to the men he freely created, in order to adopt them as his sons in his only-begotten Son. (I
Tim 6:16, cf. Eph 1:4-5) By revealing himself God wishes to make them capable of responding to him,
and of knowing him and of loving him far beyond their own natural capacity.
• CCC 53 The divine plan of Revelation is realized simultaneously "by deeds and words which
are intrinsically bound up with each other" (DV 2) and shed light on each another. It involves a
specific divine pedagogy: God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to
 welcome by stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and
mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.
• CCC 515 His deeds, miracles and words all revealed that "in him the whole fullness of deity
dwells bodily." (Col 2:9) His humanity appeared as "sacrament", that is, the sign and instrument,
of his divinity and of the salvation he brings: what was visible in his earthly life leads to the
invisible mystery of his divine sonship and redemptive mission.
• CCC 516 Christ's whole earthly life - his words and deeds, his silences and sufferings,
indeed his manner of being and speaking - is Revelation of the Father. Jesus can say:
"Whoever has seen me has seen the Father", and the Father can say: "This is my Son, my
Chosen; listen to him!" (Jn 14:9; Lk 9:35; cf. Mt 17:5; Mk 9:7) Because our Lord became man in order to do
his Father's will, even the least characteristics of his mysteries manifest "God's love. . .
among us". (Jn 4:9)
• CCC 547 Jesus accompanies his words with many "mighty works and wonders and signs",
which manifest that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised
Messiah. (Acts 2:22; cf. Lk 7:18-23)
• CCC 548 The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in
him. (cf. Jn 5:36; 10:25, 38) To those who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask. (Cf. Mk 5:25-34; 10:52)
So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his Father's works; they bear witness that
he is the Son of God. (Cf. Jn 10:31-38) But his miracles can also be occasions for "offence"; (Mt 11:6)
they are not intended to satisfy people's curiosity or desire for magic.
• CCC 549 By freeing some individuals from the earthly evils of hunger, injustice, illness and
death, (Cf. Jn 6:5-15; Lk 19:8; Mt 11:5) Jesus performed messianic signs. Nevertheless he did not come
to abolish all evils here below, (Cf. Lk 12 13-14; Jn 18:36) but to free men from the gravest slavery, sin,
which thwarts them in their vocation as God's sons and causes all forms of human bondage.
(Cf. Jn 8:34-36)

• CCC 1334 In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits
of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator. But they also received a
new significance in the context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats every
year at Passover commemorates the haste of the departure that liberated them from Egypt;
the remembrance of the manna in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the
bread of the Word of God; (Cf. Deut 8:3) their daily bread is the fruit of the promised land, the
pledge of God's faithfulness to his promises.
• CCC 1335 The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blessing,
breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the
superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist. (Cf. Mt 14:13-21; 15:32-39)
• CCC 1503 Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of
infirmity are a resplendent sign that "God has visited his people" (Lk 7:16; cf. Mt 4:24) and that the
Kingdom of God is close at hand. Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive
sins; (Cf. Mk 2:5-12) he has come to heal the whole man, soul and body; he is the physician the
sick have need of. (Cf. Mk 2:17) His compassion toward all who suffer goes so far that he
identifies himself with them: "I was sick and you visited me." (Mt 25:36) His preferential love for
the sick has not ceased through the centuries to draw the very special attention of Christians
toward all those who suffer in body and soul. It is the source of tireless efforts to comfort
them.
4. Patristic Commentary
• “When tribulation comes, we shall say to God: Thou has given me room when I was in
distress. If we have distress in the world, arising from the needs of the body, we shall call on
the breadth of God’s wisdom and knowledge, in which the world cannot distress us. For I
shall return to the wide fields of the holy Scriptures and look for the spiritual meaning of
God’s Word, and there no distress will take hold of me…If I suffer persecution and confess
Christ before men, I am certain that he will confess me also before his Father, who is in
heaven. Famine cannot disturb me, for I have the bread of life which comes down from
heaven and refreshes weary souls; nor can that bread ever be wanting, for it is perfect and
eternal.” (Origen)
• “Human nature cannot by itself maintain the struggle against angels and heights and depths
and any other creature; but when it has felt the Lord to be present and dwelling within, it will
say in the confidence of receiving divine help: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom
shall I fear?” (Origen)
• “For from the same source from which He multiplies the fields from a few grains, He has, in
His own hands, multiplied five loaves. For the power was in the hands of Christ; the five
loaves were as seeds: not indeed cast into the earth, but multiplied by Him Who made the
earth.” (St. Augustine).
• “It is a proof of the faith of these multitudes that they endured hunger in waiting for the Lord
even till evening; to which purpose it follows, And when it was evening, his disciples came
unto him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past. The Lord purporting to
feed them waits to be asked, as always not stepping forward first to do miracles, but when
called upon.” (St. John Chrysostom)
• “Our Lord in a desert place changed a few loaves into many, and at Cana turned water into
wine. Thus before the time came to give men and women his own body and blood to feed
on, he accustomed their palates to his bread and wine, giving them a taste of transitory bread
and wine to teach them to delight in his life-giving body and blood. He gave them things of
little value for nothing to make them understand that his supreme gift would be given yet
more freely. He gave them gave them for nothing what they could have bought from him,
what in fact they wanted to buy, to teach them that he asked them for no payment. When it
was not permitted them to give him the price of bread and wine, which they could have done,
they certainly could not pay him for his body and blood.” (St. Ephrem the Syrian)
• “His hands were as earth beneath the bread and his voice was as thunder above it. The
movement of his lips acted as dew, the breath of his mouth as sunlight, and in a brief
moment he accomplished what normally takes much time. Thus the shortage was forgotten;
many loaves came from few as in the first blessing: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”
(St. Ephrem the Syrian)
• “His power was not the measure of his miracle, but the people’s hunger. Had his miracle
been measured by his power it would have been a victory beyond all measure. Measured by
the hunger of thousands, there was a surplus of twelve baskets full. Humans who practice
any craft always fall short of their customers’ desires—they are unable to meet their
requirements; but what God does goes beyond anyone’s desires.” (St. Ephrem the Syrian)
• “Each of the Apostles fills his basket of the fragments left by his Savior, that these fragments
might witness that they were true loaves that were multiplied.” (St. Jerome)

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars

• St. Dominic and the miracle of the Bread at San Sisto in Rome. In the early days of the order
before the Dominicans were well known, St. Dominic’s follower endured many privations at
times even of necessities. The brethren would often go door-to-door begging for bread. One
day in particular they met with little human charity and returned with almost nothing. As the
time for the meal approached, the procurator of the house, Br. James de Melle, approached
St. Dominic to explain the difficult situation. St. Dominic praised God and commanded that
what little they had be divided up and set on the tables to feed the forty or so friars living at
San Sisto. The friars assembled at meal time, sang the prayer before meal, then sat down in
order of religion and began breaking the few bits of bread that they found before them.
Suddenly two young men, who looked very much alike entered the refectory carrying
suspended about his neck a garment folded so as to form a basket which was full of bread.
They distributed the bread in silence and, when they reached the table of St. Dominic, they
vanished so suddenly. Dominic gestured to the brethren with his hands and said, “Eat now,
my brethren.”
• During the Great Depression the Third Order and Capuchin Franciscans ran an important
soup kitchen in Detroit, MI that would regularly feed over 3000 a day; Ven. Fr. Solanus Casy,
OFM Cap. worked there as a porter. Food supplies were often very tight, an extra 50 people
could easily run the kitchen out of food. One day there was practically no bread in the entire
kitchen and 200-300 hungry people were waiting in line. The priest in charge of the kitchen
came to Fr. Solanus in distress letting him know of the situation and asking for advice. Fr.
Casey went over to the hall, where the hungry people were waiting in line and said, “Just wait
and God will provide.” He invited the people to join him in saying the ‘Our Father.’ The
priest, who had alerted Fr. Solanus to the situation, recalls that he went to the front door to
go out only to be met by a bakery man coming with a big basket of full of food and behind
him a whole truck full of stuff that he then began to unload. The hungry men seeing this
started to cry. Fr. Solanus replied, “See, God provides. Nobody will starve as long as you
put your confidence in God in Divine Providence.”

6. Quotes

• “Bread is the ‘fruit of the earth and the work of human hands,’ but the earth bears no fruit
unless it receives sunlight and rain from above. This coming together of cosmic powers,
outside our control, stands opposed to the temptation that comes to us through our pride to
give ourselves life purely through our own power. Such pride makes man violent and cold. It
ends up destroying the earth. It cannot be otherwise, because it is contrary to the truth that
we human beings are oriented toward self-transcendence and that we become great and free
and truly ourselves only when we open up to God.” (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth)

7. Other Considerations
• “Thirst is the beginning of conversion: Is 55:1; Amos 8:11-13; Jn 7:37; Rev 21:6.” Dominique
Barthélemy, O.P., God and His Image).
• “Gratis. There can be no other relationship between God and man than the one described in
the first reading [Isa. 55:1-3], and it surpasses any relationship that a human mind can take in
at first glance. Only where this free giving and receiving takes places does a man get what
he bargained for; as long as he calculates and his balance is somehow totaled up, he will
come out short: “Why pay you money for what does not feed you and your hard-earned
wages for what fails to satisfy?” asks the first reading. This simply means that only the gratis
nature of love and grace can satisfy the soul’s abysmal hunger. This, however, also means
that some inclination of toward this gratis nature must either be present in the soul or be
produced in it by the free gift itself. No one could satiate himself with God’s priceless love if
he calculatingly receives and hoards it himself. All calculation must be dismissed if a man is
to enter into the “eternal covenant” God offers him.” (von Balthazar)
• “The desert intimidates his closest disciples. They want Jesus to ‘dismiss’ the
crowds…Nevertheless, Jesus takes advantage of this occasion of heartfelt loss and extreme
need to reveal a key Gospel truth: ‘Give them some food yourselves.’ Christ’s instruction
foreshadows the command he will give to the grieving Peter after the Resurrection: ‘Feed my
sheep’ (Jn 21:17). Sometimes it takes the experience of being utterly bereft before we can
realize the rich resources perpetually available to us through the presence of Jesus Christ.
Dismissal is not the answer—deeper union with Jesus is. Thanks to the Incarnation, there is
nowhere else to withdraw to.” (Cameron)
• “As for food, Jesus himself provides the miraculous meal that alone ‘satisfies.’ In the
desolateness of this place, with nothing to look forward to but the power of Jesus, Christ’s
disciples are afforded a prime opportunity to hunger and thirst for holiness (Mt 5:6).
Detached from lesser desires, they can—perhaps for the first time—savor the taste of true
satisfaction. Christians are called to seek out others secluded in spiritual deserts and share
the fragments of that satisfaction with the mourning and hungry.” (Cameron)

Recommended Resources
Bray, Gerald ed. Romans. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: IVP,
1998.
Cameron, O.P., Peter John. To Praise, to Bless, To Preach: Spiritual Reflections on the Sunday
Gospels, Cycle A. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2001.
Friends of Henry Ashworth, eds. Christ Our Light: Readings on Gospel Themes. Vol. II. Ambler,
PA: Exordium Books, 1985.
Toal, M.F. ed. The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers. Vol. II. San Francisco: Ignatius
Press, 2000.
Turner, Matthew. Baker Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker,
2008.
Von Balthazar, Hans Urns. Light of the Word. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993.
Wansbrough, O.S.B., Wayne. “St. Matthew” in A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture.
Reginald Fuller, Leonard Johnston, Conleth Kearns, O.P. eds. Nashville: Nelson, 1975.