Eucharist. Being full – just food is not enough.

We can sit in a sought-after restaurant and stay full. And home cooking is enough, and we are happy. Today’s Gospel tells about one such event – about the multiplication of five loaves and two fish in a desolate place, where a large crowd was fed, and where they collected twelve full baskets of crumbs; the Gospel says: “They all ate and were filled” (Mt 14:20).

The Eucharist is the most significant manifestation of Love and the living presence of the Lord Jesus under visible signs. It is a fundamental truth about the Eucharist bearing the divine seal of authenticity. After all, Jesus said: “As the living Father sent me, and I live from the Father, so he who is mine will live from me” (Jn 6:57). Jesus teaches clearly and comprehensibly that whoever wants to obtain eternal life that without communion (that is, by rejecting this bread), he cannot gain this life. Once, Jesus said he would not retract anything. We see that this is something significant because the Lord Jesus does not use alternatives. Indeed, the mystery of Jesus’ body under the form of bread is connected to difficulties, but Jesus insists that we accept this mystery and live from it.

On another occasion, he said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (Jn 20:29). Yes, we can be happy when we receive Jesus in this mystery of love, with which he miraculously feeds us in our souls, as he fed the hungry crowd on the desert with loaves and fishes. God himself, Jesus Christ, prepared food for us, his own body when, for the first time, parting with the apostles, he took bread and wine and said: “Take and eat: this is my body…this is my blood” (Mt 26,26-27). This event was preceded by other events during which Jesus prepared the disciples for a fundamental matter.

The crowd, where there are only about five thousand men and women and children, forgets the need for the body and food while listening to Jesus. Jesus does not ignore this fact, either. The apostles see only the lonely place where they are. There is no such thing as a hopeless situation for Jesus. Jesus’ wish is for the event to remain deeply in the memory of the apostles so that they will forever remember that there is no such situation in which Christ cannot help. Faith is needed. How does a priest need to have confidence when the bread becomes the Body of Christ in his hands? The incident from the desert teaches about the inexhaustible treasure of the Lord Jesus. He always has, even if he gives away a lot; Jesus will never be missed. If priestly activity were based only on human wisdom, it would be exhausted quickly, but it is based on God’s word. Whoever cooperates with God, who thinks more of God than of himself, can never recognize a lack, a bottom, a bottom. Just like the Body of the Lord Jesus, thanks to God’s grace, it can never be exhausted, but the further it goes, the more it can be convinced of the love of the Lord Jesus. A priest who faithfully represents his Master will never find himself in a situation where his hands are empty. His hands will always have something to offer, gift, and enrich. Whoever believes in the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes will never experience a state of need and crisis.