Reflection
Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?
John 6:1-15
This miracle of the scriptures is a miracle of sharing – a miracle of distribution – a miracle of justice for the whole community of hungry people. After his death, the early Christians remembered Jesus in their meals of bread and fish and the sign of the fish came to represent Christ for them. Wine was only for special occasions in the lives of these ordinary people or of those who were poor. The sharing of the bread and the fish was about the abundance of God’s merciful love. Jesus taught through multiple examples that by sharing our meal with everyone all will be fed and the kingdom of peace will prevail. Later when the early Christians broke bread in secret to remember Jesus, the places where they gathered were marked with the sign of the fish. Jesus was remembered by the entire community with no one at the head but Jesus. In his lifetime, Jesus had taught them time and again about the need to include all people, especially the most marginalized and the ostracized.
Prayer
May we remember that we are all one.
Action
Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. Find out more at Bread for the World. ONE is a grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization that fights extreme poverty especially in Africa. Get involved at ONE.
Suggested Reading
When Jesus raised his eyes
and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip,
“Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
“Two hundred days?’ wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little.'”…
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”
John 6:1-15
You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. This is how prayer works.
Pope Francis
If there is hunger anywhere in the world, then our celebration of the Eucharist is somehow incomplete everywhere in the world.
Pedro Arrupe, SJ
The hungry nations of the world cry out to the peoples blessed with abundance. And the Church, cut to the quick by this cry, asks each and every person to hear his or her brother’s or sister’s plea and answer it lovingly.
Pope Paul VI
When a poor person dies of hunger it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.
Mother Teresa
The fact is that there is enough food in the world for everyone. But tragically, much of the world’s food and land resources are tied up in producing beef and other livestock–food for the well off–while millions of children and adults suffer from malnutrition and starvation.
Dr.Walden Bello
The first essential component of social justice is adequate food for all mankind. Food is the moral right of all who are born into this world.
Norman Borlaug
The hungry world cannot be fed until and unless the growth of its resources and the growth of its population come into balance. Each man and woman – and each nation – must make decisions of conscience and policy in the face of this great problem.
Lyndon B. Johnson
As the wealthiest nation on Earth, I believe the United States has a moral obligation to lead the fight against hunger and malnutrition, and to partner with others.
President Barack Obama