Fr. Roger J. Landry
Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish
Dalmanutha, Galilee
Leonine Forum Pilgrimage
Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle and Martyr
November 30, 2021
Is 55:1-3, Ps 145, Jn 6:1-15
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The following points were attempted in the homily:
- We are at the site where, according to tradition, a vast crowd made a pilgrimage to hear Jesus teach. They were longing for him, hungering for the truth, but Jesus had compassion on them, because the spirit was willing but the flesh was infamished. So he worked a miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish to feed them. This is a sign of his mercy, but it is also a sign he repeated because he wanted to make a point, that he cares not just for our souls, but for our bodies, because he loves us body and soul. At Capernaum we pondered how he wanted us to work above all for the food that endures to eternal life, but that does not mean that he doesn’t care about the material food we need to survive. He worked the miracles of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish for 5,000 and of seven loaves and a few fish for the 4,000 in order to show that he wants us to relate to him in his desire to nourish, to depend on him. After the second miracle, in a boat with the apostles after the Scribes and the Pharisees asked him to perform a sign despite so many, he told the apostles to beware of the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees. When the apostles showed incomprehension, he brought up both of the miracles of the multiplication to show them, unlike the Scribes and the Pharisees, to trust in God to provide. So the first thing we learn about this miracle is about God’s mercy and generosity and the trust we should place in him.
- The second is about the young boy, whose raw material Jesus used to begin this miracle. Jesus, through whom all things were made, could have worked this miracle ex nihilo, but he chose to begin with the meager offerings that could barely nourish a growing kid. It shows how he wants to incorporate our efforts even if they’re meager. When Cardinal Van Thuan was in solitary confinement, he wondered what he could do for the Lord, and the Lord inspired him to remember that he could offer his “five loaves and two fish,” so little it seems in comparison to the need, but placed in the Lord’s hands it could do so much. We all have our five loaves and two fish; some days it might seem just like a few crumbs and fish bones. But we’re called to give them to the Lord and let him do the rest. A mustard seed placed in his hands can become a huge shrub giving shelter to the birds of the air.
- The third thing I want to mention is how the young boy was brought to Jesus. St. John tells us: “Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to [Jesus], “There is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish.” Andrew brought the boy to Jesus and Jesus did the rest. Today is the feast of St. Andrew. He is called the “protoclete” or first called because he was with St. John the Baptist when St. John pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God and then left, with another (almost certainly St. John the Evangelist) to follow him and spend the Sabbath with him. After that, he immediately went to tell his brother Simon that he had found the Messiah and brought Simon to him, as Jesus said he would be called Cephas. St. Andrew likewise brought the Greeks who were searching for Jesus to the Lord Jesus. Though he was the first called, he was also the first and foremost to call others and bring them to Jesus. He was the proto-apostolos as well. Tradition is that this fishing spot, because of seven streams of warm water, was where fish would come and fishermen after them. It says that it was basically here, around Dalmanutha, where Jesus met Peter and Andrew, James and John, and summoned them from their boats, their fish, their nets to follow him. We can learn from St. Andrew how to do so well as we prepare to leave Galilee today.
- St. Andrew was present at the Last Supper when Jesus fulfilled what the miracles of the multiplication of loaves and fish point to, beginning the multiplication of himself as the Bread of Life to feed the deepest hungers of a human person. The Eucharist begins not with grains and grapes but with bread and wine, which is the fruit of the earth and vine — God’s gift — but also the work of human hands. We’re called to bring our own labor, our five loaves and to fish, for this miracle, like the boy, and like St. Andrew, to bring others to encounter the same Lord Jesus. Through St. Andrew’s intercession, may we leave these shores and like him fish for men and women!
The readings for today’s Mass were:
A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah
All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David.
Responsorial Psalm — You open your hand to feed us, Lord, you answer all our needs
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love.
The LORD is good to all, compassionate to every creature.
The eyes of all look hopefully to you; you give them their food in due season.
You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
You, LORD, are just in all your ways, faithful in all your works.
You, LORD, are near to all who call upon you, to all who call upon you in truth.
Alleluia — One does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John
After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee [of Tiberias]. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little [bit].” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
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