Tu (1-5) Mass readings (God is love / the multiplication of loaves & fishes [prefigures Eucharist])

[distracted]

********January 5, 2010 **

Memorial of Saint John Neumann, bishop
Lectionary: 213

Reading I
1 Jn 4:7-10

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

Responsorial Psalm
72:1-2, 3-4, 7-8

R. (see 11) Lord, every nation on Earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
The mountains shall yield peace for the people,
and the hills justice.
He shall defend the afflicted among the people,
save the children of the poor.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Gospel
Mk 6:34-44

***When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them,for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things. ***
By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already very late.
Dismiss them so that they can go
to the surrounding farms and villages
and buy themselves something to eat.”
He said to them in reply,
“Give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food
and give it to them to eat?”
He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”
And when they had found out they said,
“Five loaves and two fish.”
So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass.
The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties.
Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples
to set before the people;
he also divided the two fish among them all.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments
and what was left of the fish. Those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.
.

---

Those who do not*** love***** do not know God.

Hmm… seems to be a lot of people in the world who don’t know God, the title of “christian” notwithstanding… but whatever…

Jesus feeds the multitude… He has pity on them becasue they are without a shepherd (until HE comes along… always the case). He feeds them with phsyical food, but in the Eucharist, He feeds them with Divine Food, His very self…

isn’t it wonderful to have Jesus in our bodies as well as our souls?? *

 

[cheeto1]

"Those who do not love do not know God.
Hmm… seems to be a lot of people in the world who don’t know God, the title of “christian” notwithstanding… but whatever…"

---

– The opposite line struck me, "everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God"
– Seems to be a lot of people in the world who know God,
** and some of them don’t even know it…

---

“Give them some food yourselves.”
– this line speaks loudly to me, as there are many who
are hungry and suffering in this world. Some people are
angry about that, demanding that the government do
something. That’s not such a bad idea, but Jesus says
“give them some food yourselves”. Naturally, we don’t
have enough, yet Jesus wants us to give what we have
anyway. In fact, Ephesians 4:28 says that the reason
we should work is so we will have something to share
with those in need.

Our priest today acknowledged just what you said, that this
gospel is directly related to the eucharist.

 

[spauline]

I see much more in this. The whole of the Sacraments.

The loaves and/or fish symbolize sacraments.

There are two different feeding stories. One is seven loaves and a few fish, the other is five loaves and two fish. I see the stories as revealing the mystery of the sacraments in relation to Christian disunity, one for each form, that is, the seven loaves and few fish symbolizes how schism affects the sacraments, and the five loaves and two fish how heresy affects the sacraments

I see the sea, from which fish come, as doctrinal instability (“do not be tossed to and fro by every wave of doctrine”, …, “and the dragon spewed a flood after the woman, in order that she might be carried away by it…”).

I see the earth, from which the barley is grown to make loaves, as doctrinal stability (the Church is the “pillar and ground of the truth”, … “but the earth helped the woman, and swallowed the flood that the dragon had spewed after her”).

Therefore the loaves symbolize sacraments that come from the stability of the priesthood, the Bishops, or Oral Tradition, with which one has the fullness of sacraments and stability of doctrine.

The meaning is then this:

Seven loaves and a few fish: SCHISM: the Orthodox have Apostolic Succession, and so a basic foundation of doctrinal stability, hence, all seven sacraments (seven loaves). But they have a little doctrinal instability without Peter, or the Pope, hence, they have a “few fish”.

Five loaves and a two fish: HERESY: when heretics depart from the Church, they no longer have Apostolic Succession, that is, legitimate Bishops and Priests (this is the general lot of Protestants). Therefore they have no doctrinal stability and can only fish from the sea. They lose the five sacraments that require the Apostolic Succession (five loaves: Confession, Confirmation, Eucharist, Holy Orders, Annointing of the Sick) and retain only two sacraments, Baptism and Marriage (two fish).

For more detail, I can post a link to an involved article.

Thank you for listening to this public service announcement.

 

[cheeto1]

"Thank you for listening to this public service announcement.

"

– wow spauline! I wish you would talk about the readings every day!

 

[spauline]

"Thank you for listening to this public service announcement.

"

– wow spauline! I wish you would talk about the readings every day!

Thnx, cheeto! But actually, I didn’t come up with this all at once. I have had these ideas for like five years now.