By Rev.George Sergeev

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

When the Savior withdrew with his disciples to a lonely place near Bethsaida, crowds of people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after Him. Having left their everyday matters, having forgotten about meals and drinking, these people enjoyed listening to God’s teaching of Jesus Christ. Evening came, but nobody wanted to leave the place. Then the disciples asked the Savior to send the people away so that they could go to the villages to buy themselves some food. But Lord acted differently. He gave the people not only spiritual food which they so greatly needed, but also earthly bread.

Before this event Christ performed miracles only over the sick, and now He is doing good deeds so that the people, as Holy Fathers explain, shouldn’t be ordinary spectators of the miracle being performed over others but can be given this gift themselves. By this miracle Christ justified before the people His words, “Seek first His kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you”.

Today the Church calls us to see that life is wonderful. The Holy Fathers say that in the miracle of multiplying bread is shown the same God’s power which every year multiplies seeds sown to the earth and as in the first days of creation orders the earth to bring forth its fruit. So, handful of seeds thrown to the earth, will return to you by sheaves. This is God’s miracle, and this is our participation in the Lord’s miracle.

An image of Church is given to us in today’s Gospel. Here, the Head of the Church is Christ, Its Creator, here are the Apostles, shepherds installed by Christ, here are the people. And here it is important to stress the words of the Holy Scripture: saying to the Apostles, “you give them something to eat”, Jesus, taking the loaves, “gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds”, and recall the words of Christ told to His disciples at the Last Supper, “do this in remembrance of Me”. In both cases Christ as if stresses that the Church being created by Him is and must be Apostolic. Since the day of Holy Trinity, the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit the Apostles and the whole Christ Apostolic Church have been doing at command of the Savior: they have been feeding spiritually the whole world, have been feeding everybody looking for God and His Truth by those gifts which Christ had given the Church: by God’s word, holy sacraments, a prayer for all mankind. You and I belong to this Apostolic Church as living cells of Christ’s body, Let the Great Shepherd Christ help each of us to belong not only physically to His Body – His Church, but let our soul live in it.

Amen.