Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for August 4, 2025
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. It’s August 4th, the feast of the patron saint of parish priests St. John Vianney, the spiritual director of the foundress of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Blessed Pauline Jaricot. We’ll come back to him in a second. In the Gospel today, Jesus works the miracle of the multiplication of five loaves and two fish to feed a vast multitude of 5,000 men, 5,000 women, probably 15 to 20,000 kids. We’ve got a couple lessons in that parable that we should learn for day-to-day life. The first is Jesus looking with mercy on that whole crowd, turns to his apostles, turns to the early church and says, “You give them something to eat.” He had formed the entire solar system from nothing at the beginning, could have easily created out of nothing food and drink to serve that whole multitude. But he wanted to involve His church. He wanted to involve us. And He started with the meager offerings of five loaves and two fish in order to feed that many people. Jesus is always asking for our assistance. And at the end He says collect the fragments. And they collected not 11, not 13, not 5,000, but exactly 12 wicker baskets so that every one of the apostles would know and never be able to forget what Jesus Himself had done with their contribution. Today, as we remember missionaries, we recall that each of us is called to participate in the great feast Jesus is trying to set for the world. And He wants each of us to remember that if we do it, rather than losing what we have, we’re going to gain so much more. This was the great lesson of St. John Vianney and many of his miracles, especially for the orphanage he had founded. He turned to the Lord who had worked that miracle in the Gospel and he asked Him for help again and that’s what the Lord Himself did. And St. John Vianney preached often that the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish leads to the miracle of the Eucharist, and we’re supposed to have confidence that the Lord wants our participation in that great feast. That’s why we start not just with grain and grapes, but bread and wine, the fruit of the earth and fruit of the vine, like these vines and the work of our human hands. And then he wants us to grasp that if we start to share this with the world, we will be able to feed far more than 25,000 people. St. John Vianney knew and lived this lesson, and he’s praying for us to do the same all across the Church’s mission. God bless you.
The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based was:
When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
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.”
He 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.