Revealing our Role

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to understand and experience action in love for others that is an “epiphany” of our mission in Christian action.

Feeding the Family

The Reading from the First Letter of John declares God’s Love and Christian Life.

* [4:7–12] Love as we share in it testifies to the nature of God and to his presence in our lives. One who loves shows that one is a child of God and knows God, for God’s very being is love; one without love is without God. The revelation of the nature of God’s love is found in the free gift of his Son to us, so that we may share life with God and be delivered from our sins. The love we have for one another must be of the same sort: authentic, merciful; this unique Christian love is our proof that we know God and can “see” the invisible God. (1 John, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 72 presents the Israelite king as the instrument of divine justice

* [Psalm 72] A royal Psalm in which the Israelite king, as the representative of God, is the instrument of divine justice (Ps 72:1–4, 12–14) and blessing (Ps 72:5–7, 15–17) for the whole world. The king is human, giving only what he has received from God. Hence intercession must be made for him. The extravagant language is typical of oriental royal courts. (Psalms, PSALM 72 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Mark proclaims the Feeding of the Five Thousand.

* [6:35–44] See note on Mt 14:13–21. Compare this section with Mk 8:1–9. The various accounts of the multiplication of loaves and fishes, two each in Mark and in Matthew and one each in Luke and in John, indicate the wide interest of the early church in their eucharistic gatherings; see, e.g., Mk 6:41; 8:6; 14:22; and recall also the sign of bread in Ex 16; Dt 8:3–16; Ps 78:24–25; 105:40; Wis 16:20–21.

* [6:40] The people…in rows by hundreds and by fifties: reminiscent of the groupings of Israelites encamped in the desert (Ex 18:21–25) and of the wilderness tradition of the prophets depicting the transformation of the wasteland into pastures where the true shepherd feeds his flock (Ez 34:25–26) and makes his people beneficiaries of messianic grace.

* [6:41] On the language of this verse as eucharistic (cf. Mk 14:22), see notes on Mt 14:19, 20. Jesus observed the Jewish table ritual of blessing God before partaking of food. (Mark, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB, n.d.)

A Member of Creighton University Community offers a reflection to help comprehend the love of which the apostle and the saint speak and to help understand what St. Augustine, in this same homily, meant by “love, and do what you will.” To love God and our neighbor is to will what is best for them. It is to sacrifice for them.

The following is from St. Augustine’s famous sermon on love where he reflects upon the Apostle John’s words:

“This is how the love of God is shown among us.” The reason why the writer exhorts us, is so that we may come to love God. Could we love him, unless he first loved us? Though we were slow to love, let us not be slow to love in return. He loved us first. We do not even love in the same way as he. He loved the unrighteous, but he took away the unrighteousness. He loved the sick, but he visited them to make them whole. Love, then, is God. “This is how the love of God is shown among us: God sent his only Son into the world, that we may live through him.” As the Lord himself said: “No one can have greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” [John 25:13] This proved Christ’s love for us, the fact that he died for us. How is the Father’s love for us proved? By the fact that he sent his only Son to die for us. As the apostle Paul says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not freely give us all things?” [Rom. 8:32] (A Member of Creighton University Community, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The Lord fills all things with blessing from above,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"So that by every means the Lord might be known to be God by nature, he multiplies what is little, and he looks up to heaven as though asking for the blessing from above. Now he does this out of the divine economy, for our sakes. For he himself is the one who fills all things, the true blessing from above and from the Father. But, so that we might learn that when we are in charge of the table and are preparing to break the loaves, we ought to bring them to God with hands upraised and bring down upon them the blessing from above, he became for us the beginning and pattern and way." (excerpt from FRAGMENT 177) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 6:34-44 comments that Jesus wanted to receive what the disciples offered him because they needed to be involved. As they saw what the Lord would do with the “raw materials” they had available, they learned that no matter their need, no matter the situation they faced, they could rely on Jesus to multiply whatever they gave him.

Remember, Jesus wants to receive what you have to offer, even when you feel it’s not much. It doesn’t matter how small your contribution is; when you give him what you have, he will always receive it and bless it and multiply it.

“Jesus, help me to have the confidence to offer you all that I have today!” (Meditation on Mark 6:34-44, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments about the passage from 1 John on Love. God taught us that  Great Love is understood by Jesus as dying for the other person. To love is a choice. In the Gospel of Mark, the people were like sheep without a shepherd. The religious leaders had profited from their sheep. In Mark, there are two multiplications of the loaves, one feeding five thousand with twelve baskets remaining for the Twelve Tribes of Israel and one with seven baskets, the perfect number, for the Gentiles to feed the whole world. Friar Jude notes the green grass is an allusion to Psalm 23 and the promise that the Lord is my Shepherd.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces religious historian Diana Butler Bass who invites readers to take a clear-eyed look at the world around us and how we participate in its healing or harm. Butler Bass connects our ability to see and to act with the Christian celebration of the Epiphany.

The Wise Men awaited a sign in the sky—a star—to guide them on this journey. Revelations break in, signs appear in dreams, light shines forth, and glory hovers all around. Such things are from the realms of miracle, awe, and wonder. They surprise and disrupt the normal course of existence. Epiphanies are not of our making.

But it would be a mistake to believe that we are only passive recipients of epiphanies. We need to be alert for their arrival…. Revelations can be missed if one isn’t attentive or attuned to the possibilities of sacred surprise….

We cannot create epiphanies, but, like the Wise Men, we can respond to them. Epiphanies grab a hold of us; we can’t shake them. Epiphanies beckon. The star invites; it calls to the attentive to do something—to act. [2]

We reflect on the events of our life that changed our understanding of love as we express gratitude for the “epiphanies” that brought us to greater fullness in life.

References

Mark, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 6, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/6?34 

Meditation on Mark 6:34-44. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved January 6, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/01/06/1474341/ 

A Member of Creighton University Community. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved January 6, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-january-6-2026 

1 John, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 6, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1john/4?7 

Psalms, PSALM 72 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 6, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/72?1 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). They All Ate and Were Satisfied. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 6, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Presence and Word

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, today, The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, ( Corpus Christi), celebrate the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist as food for our full life.

Pursue our Journey

The reading from the Book of Genesis recalls Melchizedek, king of Salem, who brought out bread and wine.

* [14:18] Melchizedek, king of Salem (Jerusalem, cf. Ps 76:3), appears with majestic suddenness to recognize Abraham’s great victory, which the five local kings were unable to achieve. He prepares a feast in his honor and declares him blessed or made powerful by God Most High, evidently the highest God in the Canaanite pantheon. Abraham acknowledges the blessing by giving a tenth of the recaptured spoils as a tithe to Melchizedek. The episode is one of several allusions to David, king at Jerusalem, who also exercised priestly functions (2 Sm 6:17). Heb 7 interprets Melchizedek as a prefiguration of Christ. God Most High: in Heb. El Elyon, one of several “El names” for God in Genesis, others being El Olam (21:33), El the God of Israel (33:20), El Roi (16:13), El Bethel (35:7), and El Shaddai (the usual P designation for God in Genesis). All the sources except the Yahwist use El as the proper name for God used by the ancestors. The god El was well-known across the ancient Near East and in comparable religious literature. The ancestors recognized this God as their own when they encountered him in their journeys and in the shrines they found in Canaan. (Genesis, CHAPTER 14 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 110 proclaims God who assures the king that his enemies are conquered.

* [Psalm 110] A royal Psalm in which a court singer recites three oracles in which God assures the king that his enemies are conquered (Ps 110:1–2), makes the king “son” in traditional adoption language (Ps 110:3), gives priestly status to the king and promises to be with him in future military ventures (Ps 110:4–7). (Psalms, PSALM 110 | USCCB, n.d.)

The reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul relates the tradition of the Institution.

* [11:23–25] This is the earliest written account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament. The narrative emphasizes Jesus’ action of self-giving (expressed in the words over the bread and the cup) and his double command to repeat his own action. (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand.

* [9:16] Then taking…: the actions of Jesus recall the institution of the Eucharist in Lk 22:19; see also note on Mt 14:19. (Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)

Rev. Andy Alexan­der, SJ sus­pects that some of us, like he, at var­i­ous times in our lives, took the Eucharist for grant­ed and lost a sense of the sacred, the inti­mate bond of this gift of his entire self to/for us, and we lost a sense of how the Eucharist mis­sions us to share that self-giv­ing love for others.

Can this grace of a feel­ing close to our Lord be restored?  Can we open our hearts to receive that pow­er­ful, per­son­al expe­ri­ence of love he offers us with his very self being bro­ken and poured out for us?  Can we imag­ine a renewed spe­cial moment when the min­is­ter offers us his Body and his Blood, while we stretch out our arms with a big smile and say “Amen,” mean­ing “Yes,” to the whole gift: “Yes, I desire to receive you into my heart.  Yes, I so desire to let you heal me with your love and I real­ly want to feel mis­sioned by this sacra­ment to love as you’ve loved me”?

I believe this is pos­si­ble because I’m expe­ri­enc­ing a bit of it more and more these days, deal­ing with my dimin­ish­ment. That jour­ney has led me to re-dis­cov­er an impor­tant tool Ignatius offers us, that is, locat­ing and ask­ing for the grace we desire.   To ask for this gift of a “holy com­mu­nion of love” we receive in the Eucharist is sure­ly to ask for a grace our Lord dear­ly wants to give us. (Alexander, 2025)

Don Schwager quotes “Christ has yet to feed them with stronger food,” by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.

"The order of the mystery is preserved everywhere. The first healing is bestowed on wounds through the remission of sins. Then the nourishment of the heavenly table abounds, although this multitude is not yet refreshed with stronger foods, nor do hearts hungry for more solid faith feed on the body and blood of Christ (Hebrews 5:12-14). He says, 'I gave you milk to drink, not meat. For you then were not strong, nor are you yet' (1 Corinthians 3:2). The five loaves are like milk, but the more solid meat is the body of Christ, and the stronger drink is the blood of the Lord (Luke 22:19-20). Not immediately at first do we feast on all foods, nor do we drink all drinks. 'First drink this,' he says. Thus there is a first, then a second thing that you drink. There is also a first thing that you eat, then a second, and then a third. At first there are five loaves, then there are seven (Matthew 15:34). The third loaf is the true body of Christ. So, then, let us never abandon such a Lord. He agrees to bestow on us nourishment according to the strength of each, lest either too strong a food oppress the weak or too meager a nourishment not satisfy the strong."(excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.71-72) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:11-17 comments that whether we experience a Eucharistic miracle or not, Jesus is still present at every Mass. Just as he multiplied the five loaves and two fishes that day, he takes something so small—a simple piece of bread—and transforms it into his very flesh, to feed his people.

Today, offer Jesus your very self. Yes, the little that you have to offer him is enough! Give him your worries, your cares, but also your blessings and gifts. Trust in his miracle-working love and power to do amazing things in and through you.

“Jesus, nothing is too small for you. I worship you in the Eucharist, and I offer you the little that I have. Come and work your wonders in me!” (Meditation on Luke 9:11-17, n.d.)

Harry Elias SJ, assistant in the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in Wapping, East London, reflects on the communion with Christ into which we and all of creation are welcomed through the Eucharist.

At the Last Supper, Christ took bread and wine, blessed them (gave thanks to God for them) and declared the bread and wine to be his own body and blood, his sacrificial body, the embodiment of his sacrificial offering. He then gave them to his disciples to share. Earliest church tradition attests that the bread and wine were not merely a sign of Christ’s sacrificial body but actually were his body: the bread and wine had become a new creation. By becoming Christ’s flesh and blood, their identity was that of the Word of God (John 1:1). In offering the bread and wine, and in their being eaten and drunk, we come to communion (koinonia) with Christ in spirit, and through him with the Father, ‘so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life’ (Romans 6:4). Through our faith in Christ handed down to us by the Church, the joy and spiritual strength of hope we receive from the bread of life, the heavenly manna (John 6:50-51), enables us to endure the misfortunes in the wilderness of our lives. The Lord invites each one of us to his supper, to relax, rest and be refreshed in his personal love and in the Father’s love. (Elias, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the passage in Genesis where Melchizedek offers bread and wine as sacrifice in response to Abram. He is seen as a foreshadowing of Jesus “the king of righteousness” as outlined in the Letter to Hebrews. The first written version of the Last Supper, in Corinthians preceded by two decades the accounts in the New Testament. Friar Jude notes the different expressions of “blood” or “Covenant” in accounts and the different understanding in Greek or in Aramaic of Jesus Words.

Brian McLaren explores Jesus’ call to live by the collective values of justice and solidarity, becoming salt and light for the world. Jesus advocates an identity characterized by solidarity, sensitivity, and nonviolence. He celebrates those who long for justice, embody compassion, and manifest integrity and nonduplicity. He creates a new kind of hero: not warriors, corporate executives, or politicians, but brave and determined activists for preemptive peace, willing to suffer with him in the prophetic tradition of justice. 

Our choice is clear from the start: If we want to be his disciples, we won’t be able to simply coast along and conform to the norms of our society. We must choose a different definition of well-being, a different model of success, a new identity with a new set of values….  

If we seek the kind of unconventional blessedness he proposes, we will experience the true aliveness of God’s kingdom, the warmth of God’s comfort, the enjoyment of the gift of this Earth, the satisfaction at seeing God’s restorative justice come more fully, the joy of receiving mercy, the direct experience of God’s presence, the honor of association with God and of being in league with the prophets of old. That is the identity he invites us to seek. (McLaren, n.d.)

We ponder the declaration in the beginning of the Gospel of John that the Word is made flesh and dwells among us as we receive Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Chosen episode offers an interesting interpretation of Jesus and the loaves and fishes.

References

Alexander, A. (2025, June 22). Daily Reflection June 22, 2025 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-june-22-2025 

Elias, H. (n.d.). Corpus Christi transforming creation. Thinking Faith: The online journal of the Jesuits in Britain. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/corpus-christi-transforming-creation 

Genesis, CHAPTER 14 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/14?18 

Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?11 

McLaren, B. (n.d.). Acting from Our Identity. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/acting-from-our-identity/ 

Meditation on Luke 9:11-17. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/06/22/1310938/ 

1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/11?23 

Psalms, PSALM 110 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/110?1 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). All Ate and Were Satisfied. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jun22a