Nothing – says St. Paul – can ever separate us from the love of God. The quality of this love is manifested in the gesture that Jesus makes, the meaning of which is revealed to us by the wider context in which it is inserted. Immediately before, Matthew narrated the execution of the Baptist by Herod, which also takes place in the context of a banquet set up for the king’s birthday. To the logic of a power that takes away life, Jesus responds with the opposite logic of a service that gives it. The miracle of the loaves prophesies what Jesus will do at the end of his life also for this is the logic that his gift manifests. Even then, to the violence of those who condemn him to death, to the sin of his disciples who betray or deny him, Jesus will respond with the gift of bread, a real sign of his life that offers himself in love for them and for all. What really satisfies us is not so much the bread, which our body also needs, but the love, the full self-dedication, that it communicates to us. The disciples totally hand over the little they have; Jesus offers his whole life; the crowds receive everything they need. That little, what is given in love, with an attitude aimed at overturning the logic of hatred and violence, really satisfies life. As Isaiah warns, we often run after water and bread that do not feed us. May the Lord give us wisdom to discern what really makes us live.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey