Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for August 2, 2026
Here is the video of today’s reflection.
The YouTube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies of the Church in the United States. It is the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, August 2nd, the feast, traditionally, of the Portziuncula, that little church in Assisi, that Saint Francis of Assisi made his main church. And in this year, where we mark the 800th anniversary of his death, special indulgence. It’s also the memorial of Saint Peter Julian Eymard, the great apostle of the Holy Eucharist. And in today’s gospel, we continue what we would have heard yesterday, even though the daily mass cycle and the Sunday mass cycle are different. Jesus, after he had heard of the death of Saint John the Baptist, withdrew to a quiet place by himself. He went out in a boat and eventually disembarked. And when he disembarked, he saw a vast crowd. And his heart was moved with pity. His He got sick to his stomach. His inwards were exploding because he said they were like sheep without a shepherd. They listened to him teach, but then he said, “This crowd is famished.” And he turned to his disciples and said, “Where can we get enough food for this crowd?” And they said, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have.” That’s all that these 13 men, the 12 apostles and Jesus were traveling with. Five little panini or buns and a couple small fish. They themselves were off often suffering from lack of food and hence they needed to have a bunch of women around them providing for their needs. But he looked out and there were 5,000 men, probably 5,000 women, probably 15 to 20,000 kids. Obviously, that was nothing. But Jesus said, “Bring those raw materials to me.” He looked up to heaven, said a prayer of blessing, broke them, and gave the pieces to the disciples, whom he in turn asked to give to the crowd. And they did. And it multiplied. It was an incredible miracle that’s contained in all four Gospels. And after they collected all the baskets and each of the 12 apostles had a full basket showing in an indelible way what Jesus himself was capable of, the types of miracles he wanted to work. It had been prophesied in Isaiah 25 that the Messiah, when he would eventually come, would on a mountain prepare a feast. A feast of choice wines and precious food. Jesus, that long-awaited Messiah, was doing that in the multiplication of the loaves and fish. But he was likewise pointing to two other great feasts. The first would be the multiplication of the last supper in which Jesus throughout time and every place would multiply himself through the church, through the apostles, giving his body and blood, the living bread come down from heaven to feed a world. He starts not with five loaves and two fish from a young boy. He starts with our raw materials, our work, the grain and the grapes that he gives us, but the human hands which make it into bread and wine. And he changes those into his body and blood, maintaining the appearances of food and drink. And that Eucharist itself points to another miracle, which is the banquet of of the wedding feast in heaven between Christ the bridegroom and his bride the church, the nuptials that the book of Revelation describe. Ultimately, through material food, material food supposed to lead us to the spiritual food that our souls need at the Holy Eucharist, and that meal is a sacrament which is meant to be a bridge that takes us ultimately to the eternal nuptial feast. Saint Peter Julian Eymard always preached this great mystery of the Holy Eucharist as an eschatological feast, as something that’s meant to lead us to the joy of the saints. Through his intercession and St. Francis’ too, let’s ask for a great hunger for the Eucharist, a great gratitude for every meal Christ gives us, and to bring us all one day with St. Peter Julian and St. Francis to that eternal wedding banquet. God bless you.
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me,”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.