In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel today, five thousand people are fed with five loaves of bread, and two fish. When we are serving special services on feast-days, we have five loaves of bread which come from the miracle in today’s Gospel reading. The prayers that go with the blessing of the five loaves of bread on these special feast-days, and other special occasions, ask that the Lord will multiply the loaves of bread, and feed everyone.

The Lord multiplied the five loaves of bread, and the two fish. It was not just enough to feed the five thousand (they counted just the men in those days, but there were women, and children, too). He fed them so well that there were still twelve baskets left over. They gathered up the left-over pieces into twelve baskets. These were not little baskets. We are talking about big baskets such as the ones in which we collect apples, or even bigger ones: these great, big baskets that you can hardly get your arms around. These baskets were taken up after everyone had eaten, and felt full. That’s what we are told today in the Gospel, and this is really important for us to remember. This is Who is looking after you, and me also to this day. This same King who is in charge of feeding His people (or feeding His sheep because He is also a Shepherd), is feeding His flock, His children, His family, not just enough, but He is feeding us with more than enough, because there are always leftovers.

It is important for us to remember how much the Lord is looking after us. There is a tendency in Canada with our “rationalism”, and so forth, to think that such things are just for those apostolic days, and just for the Saviour to do Himself. However, that is not at all the case. There are stories over and over and over again in the lives of monks, nuns, and saints, that when people really have needs, and they turn to the Lord to meet the need, the need gets met. I have known this in my own life in recent years many times (not just rarely). Many times the need doesn’t always get met exactly as we asked for, because the Lord knows best. But the need does get met. What we really need is given to us. In many monasteries when there was no food left for another meal, suddenly before the next day arrived, someone would arrive at the door with enough to eat for quite a while. I know monks, and nuns in the United States, and in Canada who can tell you this from their own experience. They have had this happen to them. The Lord, who loves us, is with us. This is happening not just to monks, and nuns, although it is monks, and nuns who talk about it more. I know that there are ordinary parishioners who have been in the same predicament: Orthodox Christian believers, and other Christians, too, who, turning to the Lord in their need, have their need met. They trusted the Lord, and the Lord fed them. The Lord saw them through. He sees you, and me through our difficulties, and He meets our needs.

Sometimes the Lord is feeding us exactly as He does today with the five loaves, and the two fish. Today’s Gospel is not just a story. It is the truth. It really happens, and is happening because the Lord is the Lord of all creation. If He can turn water into wine by short-circuiting the grapes, and the fermenting process, and about five years of quality control, He can also multiply five loaves, and two fish. If you look at the Gospel today in which we have heard about the Lord’s loving generosity, which we imitate with our Christian hospitality, you recognise the custom in many Orthodox families of always setting an extra place in case someone drops in. In Canada, however, because we are obsessed with having appointments for visitors, it is happening less. However, in my childhood it happened many times. People would arrive at supper-time, and we always had to have more food than for ourselves alone because someone was certainly going to show up. And they did. Sometimes it still actually happens out there at Fair Haven, and I’m certain that it has happened to you, too. The point is – always be prepared to give hospitality, and love. This is an expression of exactly what the Lord did today with the five thousand, and what He is doing with us all the time.

If you read beyond today’s Gospel reading, you are going to see that the Lord let His disciples go off in the boat. He said His last words to the crowd, and He went off to pray by Himself for a while. The disciples were on the Sea of Galilee, on which a storm often could blow up unexpectedly. And it did happen this time in the middle of the night. It was a violent storm, and the disciples were all greatly frightened because of the waves. The Lord came to them, walking on the water in the night, and He calmed the storm. He calmed the waves. This is Who He is to you, and to me in the storm of our life too. He feeds us. He cares for us. He meets our needs. He calms the storm of life around us so that we can live in peace, and glorify Him, and live our lives giving thanks to Him. This is Jesus Christ in whom we live, whom we love, whom we serve. He is the Lord, the King of the universe itself. He provides everything for us. He is the King of the universe, for whom the other kings in Israel had been preparing. It’s that King into whom we are baptised, and with whom we are also anointed. That is why we can live in Christ the way we are able to do, glorifying Him, together with His Father, who is from everlasting, and His all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America