2 kings 4:42-44; Ps 144 (145); Eph 4:1-6; Jn 6:1-15

Paul urges the Christians of Ephesus to behave in a manner worthy of the call they have received, remembering that their vocation is a con-vocation, a vocation-with-others: to be called together to form one body in one spirit, because the one who calls is also one: ‘ One God and Father of all. ” The dynamics of this communion also emerge from the story of John: The bread is divided among all, so that everyone can eat it, in a sharing that becomes itself the source of communion. The Evangelist emphasizes this with a small detail of his narrative, but it is decisive. After all have been fed, Jesus orders the disciples to gather, or rather, to bring together into one the pieces left over, because nothing is lost. In the discourse on the Bread of Life Jesus will affirm that he must fulfill his father’s wishes: “That I should lose nothing of what he has given me, but raise it up in the last Day” (Jn 6.39).

The bread that Jesus gives us, in addition to satiating our hunger, fulfills our deepest desire: to be in communion with one another. A communion generated by the willingness to share the little we have, the little we are, with all our brothers and sisters.