Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop

After a long day of teaching the crowd, I can only imagine that Jesus is quite hungry too. Standing in that deserted place for hours, Jesus, fully God and fully human, had a stomach rumbling just as much as those gathered. Jesus must have also sat down with the people to eat after the disciples set out the loaves he had blessed. Sensitive to this human need for sustenance, Jesus was moved with pity to look out on the horizon to see his own sheep in need. The translation of the term “moved with pity” from the Greek draws on the idea that he experienced an abrupt, forceful compassion, from deep within his gut. Jesus nourished that crowd with his Word and with the loaves that were taken, blessed, broken, and given, just as he does for us who gather at the Feast of the Eucharist.

While praying with the brothers during Evening Prayer, indeed before our community dinner, I was struck by an antiphon for the Canticle of Mary, saying that, “if you hunger for holiness, God will satisfy your longing, good measure, and flowing over.” Do I long for God? When I face the hungers of my own heart, for food, to be known and loved, do I see this as an invitation to grow in compassion for others? Together, in our lack, in our distress, do we not only seek to be satisfied by Jesus, who multiplies the humble gift we offer, but to know those who are just as famished as we are? Jesus is still hungry, present in the least, in our families, in those among us this very day. What a gift that we ourselves are satisfied in the very act of seeking the one in need! Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, has loved us first, and hungers first for our love in return.