Vatican
City, 2 June 2013 (VIS) – At noon today, Pope Francis appeared at
the window of his study to pray the Angelus with the thousands of
faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, informing them that this
past Thursday was the celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus
Christi—”the Feast of the Eucharist, the Sacrament of the Body
and Blood of Christ”—which in Italy and other countries is
celebrated today.
Commenting
on the Gospel that narrates the miracle of the loaves and fish, the
Bishop of Rome said that there is an aspect of this story that always
surprises him and causes him to reflect. “We are on the shore of
the Sea of Galilee. Evening draws near. Jesus is concerned for the
people who, for so many hours, have been with him. There are
thousands of them and they are hungry. What is to be done? The
disciples are also discussing the problem and they say to Jesus:
'Dismiss the crowd' so they can go to the nearby villages and find
something to eat. Instead, Jesus tells them: 'Give them some food
yourselves'. The disciples are baffled and answer: 'Five loaves and
two fish are all we have', that is, just enough for us.”
“Jesus
knows well what must be done but he wants to involve his disciples,
wants to educate them. The disciples' attitude is the human one,
which seeks the most realistic solution, the one that doesn't create
too many problems: Dismiss the crowd, they say, and let each of them
fend for themselves. Anyway, you have already done so much for them:
you have preached, you have healed the sick … Dismiss the crowd.”
“Jesus'
attitude is completely different and is dictated by his union with
the Father and his compassion for the people—by that compassion
that Jesus has for us all. Jesus hears our problems, feels our
weaknesses and our needs. Faced with those five loaves, Jesus thinks:
here's providence. From this little bit God can bring forth what
everyone needs. Jesus trust completely in the heavenly Father,
knowing that, with Him, everything is possible. Therefore he tells
the disciples to seat the people of groups of fifty. This isn't an
accident—it means that they are no longer a crowd but become
communities, nourished by the bread of God.”
“Then
he takes the bread and the fish, lifts his eyes to heaven, recites
the blessing—which is a clear reference to the Eucharist—then
breaks them, begins to give them to his disciples, and the disciples
distribute it. And the bread and fish don't stop … here is the
miracle! More than a multiplication it is a sharing, inspired by
faith and prayer. They all ate and there were leftovers. This is the
sign of Jesus, the bread of God for humanity.”
The
disciples,” the Pope noted, “saw, but they didn't grasp the
message. They were caught up, like the crowd, in this success. Once
again they followed human logic, not that of God, which is the logic
of service, love, and faith. The Feast of Corpus Christi asks us to
convert to faith in Providence, asks us to know how to share the
little that we are and that we have, and asks that we not ever get
locked up in ourselves. Let us ask our Mother Mary to help us in this
conversion, to truly follow more closely Jesus whom we adore in the
Eucharist.”
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