“Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to [his] disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all.” (Mark 6:41)
Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on these verses from today’s First Reading:
“Take note therefore of how his [creative] activity is mixed in with everything. When our Lord took a little bread, he multiplied it in the twinkling of an eye. That which [people] effect and transform in ten months with toil, his ten fingers effected in an instant. For he placed his hands beneath the bread as though it were earth, and spoke over it as though thunder. The murmur of his lips sprinkled over it like rain, and the breath of his mouth [was there] in place of the sun. [Thus] did he complete in the flash of one tiny moment something which requires a whole lengthy hour. One tiny amount of bread was forgotten, and from the midst of its smallness, abundance came to birth so that it might be like the first blessing, “Give birth and be fruitful and multiply.” The loaves of bread, like barren women and women deprived [of children], became fruitful at his blessing, and many were the morsels born from them.” (Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron)
O God,
Whose Only Begotten Son
has appeared in our very flesh,
grant, we pray,
that we may be inwardly transformed
through Him
whom we recognize as outwardly like ourselves.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Whose Only Begotten Son
has appeared in our very flesh,
grant, we pray,
that we may be inwardly transformed
through Him
whom we recognize as outwardly like ourselves.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Glory to You Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia!
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia!
