“Jesus feeding the multitudes, specifically feeding the five thousand, is His only miracle that is recounted in all four Gospels (except for the Resurrection). Incidentally, there were more than 5,000 people as only the men were counted according to Blessed Theophylact. There were women and children as well, which means the number was far greater than five thousand and our Lord fed everyone. The feeding in this miracle was of their bodies, but this multitude was also following Him because He healed their sick. We also know from the Gospels that He was teaching them as well. So He fed their bodies, healed their bodies and souls, and fed their spirits. He longs to and will feed us at all levels if we are willing to receive Him at any level.” (Sacramental Living Blog)
“Let us consider Christ and how He welcomed all people, all circumstances, and everything that may have been unexpected. He engaged each person; He never turned anyone away regardless of how He was treated…He trusted God in all things… we see Christ’s empathy for the people, how He looked beyond Himself and His own needs. In His mercy He healed the sick among them, and He fed them with the miracle of the five loaves and two fish. So did Christ willingly accept the unexpected? Did He put His wishes aside for the sake of others? Yes, of course He did. This may have seemed easy to do, a nice little story, but His whole life was truly an act of love, of selflessness, and of surrendering His will.” (Presvytera Ourania Chatzis)
“The disciples had wanted to send the people away to get something to eat, but Jesus responds, ‘There is no need for them to go away; give them food yourselves.’ The disciples approached the issue from the point of view of earthly economics. To buy food for the people assembled would be too expensive – 200 days’ wages. Jesus’ response is simple. He asks, ‘What do you have?’ But the disciples don’t realize that they are being called to participate in a miracle by simply giving what they have…A traditional American proverb says, “God makes this request of his children: Do the best you can – where you are, with what you have, now.” The story of Jesus Christ feeding the 5,000 illustrates this through the boy’s offering of all that he had – five loaves and two fish. This boy did his best with what he had, and Jesus used it to perform an incredible miracle.” (Fr. Jim Kordaris)
“There is a wonderful story about heaven and hell. A man was given a vision of hell. It is pure misery. In hell there is such abundance and yet everybody is starving. Everyone has a huge fork – about the size of a person. The fork is so big that I can’t eat with it. I can’t control it to feed myself and so even though everything is there, I, by myself, can’t feed myself and so I starve. This same man is then given a vision of heaven. It is pure bliss and joy. Again there is such an abundance of everything and everybody is happy. They are full. It is banquet! There is joy and celebration. He looks and everybody has the same large fork. The difference is that they are feeding one another. They each reach out to the other.” (Father John Zeyack)
“Only with Christ does a worldwide community of caring, love, and charity come into being – one which exists with imperfections to this day, extending hands-on care to a membership of great diversity.” (Dynamis 11/16/2018)