11 February 2023
Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Four thousand or more people were following Jesus, having heard about or seen His miracles, having heard His preaching: they were like moths to a flame, or fish swimming toward a bright light at night. Our souls long for the Light of the World; they were made for it, even more so than any plant was made for sunlight in order to live, needing more than merely water and soil to survive. We need more than food and water: God is the very source of our life and when humanity fell into sin, we fell into darkness and withered for lack of light. Now, however, light had returned, and those withered leaves of the human soul were beginning to unfurl, to firm up and become green with life again.
Jesus did far more than give the people something to eat, for they were not following Him simply because they were hungry and thought maybe He had a morsel for them. They were hungering and thirsting for something they craved in the very depths of their being; they may not even have had a word for what it was. What they did know, however, is that after the experience of being fed by Jesus in that “…deserted place…” they “…were satisfied…”
Did they realize what was happening; did they begin to understand who Jesus truly was? Did they notice that a bite of bread satisfied them on a level that not even a royal feast could have achieved? We cannot know, but St. Mark tells us that not only were they satisfied, but likewise the pity that arose in the heart of Jesus for them was assuaged, such that He dismissed the crowd and sailed back across the sea; the Light of the World set in the west, but the memory of His coming among the Gentiles lingered on.