Spiritual Food

A Sermon on the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Most beloved brothers and sisters, today’s Gospel reading tells us of the Lord’s mercy toward people and of His divine almighty power; namely, it speaks of the healing of many who were sick and of the wondrous feeding of five thousand people with five small loaves and two fish miraculously multiplied.

It teaches us the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things, the Giver of life and our Nourisher, the Physician of both soul and body; He created, and still creates in abundance, all the fruits of the earth for our food and enjoyment; He sends early and late rains from the heavens; He thunders in the vault of heaven and flashes terribly with lightning; He brings forth the winds from His treasuries; In Him we live, and move, and have our being[1]. Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, as we make use each day of the various gifts of God, let us be thankful to the Lord for them, and for so great a love toward us and so rich a Providence over us; let us repay Him with love, and in the measure of His bounty toward us let us in turn be generous to our neighbors. If we act in this way, the earth will not cease to bring forth all fruits in abundance; for, in the measure of the fruits of our love for God and of our good deeds, the earth will be filled with its fruits, and there will be no failed harvests, no famine, and no grievous scarcity and high cost of all our necessities. But if we are merciless and hard-hearted, then the earth will be hard beneath our feet and will yield no fruit. Nothing more, brothers and sisters, does the Lord require of us for His gifts and for His love toward us, than that we fulfill His holy will and that we love one another. What does He, who is all-sufficient and all-blissful, need from us? Nothing. Look, what moving compassion the Lord shows toward the people who came in multitudes to listen to His sweet, life-giving word and to be healed of their infirmities! Seeing the multitude of people, the Evangelist says, the Lord had compassion on them and healed their sick. Does He not teach by this all of us as well compassion toward one another, and mercy? Yes. He gives us the example of every virtue by His own self. I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you[2], says the Lord—certainly, within the limits of what is possible for us. You cannot heal? But you can sympathize with the sick, visit them, comfort them with your love, help them in whatever way and however you can; or you can feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, or buy him some clothing and footwear, and so on. Still further, today’s Gospel teaches us not to doubt that we should share with our neighbor even out of little, according to our ability; for the Lord is able to multiply even what is little, so that he who gives to the poor will never be impoverished[3]. The apostles had only five loaves and two fish, and they thought it was not worthwhile to divide so small a portion among so great a multitude of people. But that small portion became a great abundance: all ate and were satisfied, and there remained forty times more than there had been at the beginning.

Does not a similar miracle happen even now to merciful people? And it happens very often. According to the measure of their giving, the Lord bestows on them ten, twenty, a hundred times more. The Lord is faithful in all His words[4].

But today’s Gospel in particular teaches us that our true bread—the bread not of time, but of eternal life—is the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we must care not only for perishable food, but especially for imperishable food, which gives eternal life to the soul—that is, for Communion of the all-pure Body and Blood of Christ, for hearing and reading the word of God, which is the spiritual food of our souls, and for prayer, which sanctifies the soul and satisfies it with grace. When the people, after the miraculous feeding, began to follow after Jesus Christ in order to eat of the miraculous meal yet again and again, the Lord said to them, reproachfully: Truly I say to you: you seek Me not because you saw the miracles, but because you ate the bread and were filled. Do not strive for perishable food, but for the food that abides to eternal life, which the Son of Man gives you. Truly I say to you: My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not hunger, and the one who believes in Me will never thirst[5]. Earthly, perishable food strengthens only the body, and not the immortal soul; the apostle says: It is good to strengthen the heart with grace, and not with foods, by which those who walked in them received no benefit[6].

Food for the belly and the belly for food, but God will destroy both this and that[7]. So then, brothers and sisters, while striving for perishable food, let us care all the more for the spiritual food with which our immortal soul is nourished—for Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, for hearing and reading the word of God, and for communal and household prayer. May Your holy Body, O gracious Lord, be for me the bread of eternal life, and Your precious Blood, and the healing of my manifold infirmities[8]. Amen.