John 6:1-14. John's telling of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. A great crowd follows Jesus to the Sea of Tiberias. When Jesus sees them, he asks Philip "How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" John makes a point of telling us that this question was to test Philip, Jesus already knew what he intended to do. When Andrew tells Jesus about the boy with five barley lives and two fish, Jesus tells everyone to sit down - about five thousand men. He then blesses the loaves and fishes and distributes them to all "as much as they wanted." Then he tells the disciples to gather what is left over so "that nothing may be lost." They fill twelve baskets with fragments. The people are amazed and agree that Jesus must be the prophet who was to come into the world.

This is the foreshadowing of the Eucharist - the bread with which Jesus will feed all of us even to the end of time. His power to transform five loaves and two fish into plentiful food for over five thousand people is just a prelude of his power to transform bread and wine into his body and blood, through his own hands and those of his priests, for all of time. The Eucharist is such an amazing, powerful, wonderful gift. It is so sad that so many people have allowed themselves to be separated from it for whatever reason. That separation may, in some cases, result from a lack of realizing what it really is, and who Jesus really is.

This gets us to the question that Jesus asks Philip - where can we buy bread for all these people? And Phillip's answer "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough..." Jesus knew what he would do, but he asks Philip to test him. Clearly, Philip is still thinking too much like a man of the world - all he can do is estimate the cost and see it as prohibitive. Philip does not yet understand what is happening or who Jesus is. I wonder if, at this point, any of the apostles did? Nothing is impossible with God - if Jesus wanted to feed five thousand people, he would do so. If Philip truly understood who Jesus was, he would know this, and would have answered differently.

But we are all Philip here. We all get bogged down in the worries of the world at times, and we often let them distract us from God's power and love for us. Who am I to worry about money, health, insurance, education, or any of the other things that I worry about (and I do!)? Of course I have to do my part, yes. I have to offer my five loaves and two fish - the things that I have I have to bring to the Lord and offer them to him. When I do that, he does amazing things, and he takes care of everything!

He loves me, he loves all of us, and he wants to take care of us, to feed us, and to bring us home to him. All we have to do is trust him and let him!