Sunday, July 9 : Saint Bede the Venerable

In this account of the miracle we must consider in one and the same Redeemer the separate operation of his divinity and of his humanity. And the error of Eutyches, who dared to teach that in Christ there is but one operation, must be wholly driven out from Christian lands. Who cannot see that the Lord, in having compassion on the multitude lest they faint from want of food or from the weariness of the long journey home, was moved by the compassion of human pity, but that feeding four thousand people from seven loaves and a few fish is a work of divine power? “And they collected seven baskets full of fragments.” That multitude who had just eaten and been filled did not carry away with them the remains of the loaves but left them to be gathered into baskets by the disciples, as before. And taken literally, this event teaches us to be content with what is necessary and never to look for anything more than that. Then the evangelist makes known to us the number of those who were satisfied: “Now those who ate were about four thousand, and he dismissed them.” Here let us consider that our Lord Jesus Christ does not wish to send anyone away hungry since, to the contrary, he wants to give to everyone the nourishment of his grace. In a figurative sense there is this difference between this second miracle and the first multiplication of the five loaves and two fish: the first prefigures the letter of the Old Testament, which was as though full of the spiritual grace of the New, whereas the second represents the truth and grace of the New Testament fully communicated to the faithful. The multitude who, according to Saint Matthew’s testimony, wait three days for the healing of their sick (Mt 15), represent the elect in the faith of the holy Trinity who beg for the forgiveness of their sins with persevering prayer, or those who are converted to the Lord through their thoughts, words, and deeds.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team