By Allison Auth
“And they all ate and were satisfied.” ~Matthew 14:20
A common theme emerges in today’s readings: that of being satisfied. In Isaiah, the Lord asks why we spend money and wages on what fails to satisfy. The Psalm proclaims that the Lord answers all our needs. St. Paul declares nothing will separate us from the love of Christ. And in the Gospel, Matthew writes that after receiving the miraculous bread blessed by Jesus, all ate and were satisfied. In fact, they were not just satisfied, there was an abundance of leftovers—twelve baskets of leftover broken pieces.
I’ve heard before that the twelve baskets represent the twelve apostles, but I began to wonder about the leftover bread itself. Did people take fragments for the journey home? Did the disciples eat it the next day? Did it continue to feed multitudes and satisfy hunger? I imagine it was the gift that kept on giving because the Lord is a God of abundance, not of scarcity. Even broken pieces help people to have their fill.
God’s Abundant Love
God’s abundance is everywhere—the stars in the sky, the sand in the shore, the vast valleys, mountains, and oceans—but His greatest abundance is in the way He feeds us in the Eucharist. The priest distributes the Host just as the apostles were instructed to pass out the loaves and fishes, yet this miraculous bread is meant to satisfy on a deeper level. Christ’s love for us is so abundant, so overwhelming, that He is willing to hide Himself in simple bread in order to be close to us so that His grace—His very Divine Presence—can reside within us. Christ loves us so abundantly that He wants nothing to separate us from Him: neither peril, anguish, famine, heights or depths or any other thing to get between becoming one with us.
Jesus generously gives of Himself day after day in the Eucharist, never exhausting Himself of giving us His love. We need to be reminded of our need for Him—that our thirst is never quenched, our hunger never fully satisfied, until the banquet feast in Heaven. In abundance He gives us daily grace that never runs out, never runs dry, until we reach our heavenly home.
Abundance Leads to Overflow
This summer, my family hiked to a 102 ft. waterfall where we felt the spray on our faces and heard the thundering in our ears. That to me is a symbol of abundance as, each second, water leapt over the edge in a lavish display of overflow. More water kept coming, just as more grace of God’s love pours forth on us at every moment of the day. God is a God of abundance: He feeds us with His flesh and sustains us with His grace. We have more than we need and so the idea is we would share our leftovers—even the broken bits—with others. We all need the saving sustenance that only the Sacraments can give. Only God’s presence within us will satisfy.
Prayer:
Jesus, thank you for sustaining me in the Eucharist and giving me your abundant grace.
Call to Action:
How is God’s love overflowing in our lives? Who is someone we can share our abundance with today?
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Beautiful article! Such great observations. The 12 Apostles represented in the 12 baskets of remaining food, and the food that Our Lord, for our soul, that provides us with His own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Loved this article! Thank you!