The Bread Is Everything

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, June 22nd, 2025:
Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

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Luke
9.11b-17 

​Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.

The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.”

But Jesus said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish — unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men.

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Make the people sit down in groups of about fifty each.” They did so and made them all sit down.

And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

By the time we get to Luke chapter nine, Jesus has been on mission for some time. He has been teaching, blessing and healing people all over the place, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies as the incarnation of God, who is Love. He’s been showing us how it’s done; praying bold prayers and trusting His Father in heaven in unprecedented ways. Feeding people, both literally and figuratively.

Jesus looks up to heaven, blesses bread and breaks it, and gives it to His disciples to distribute to the crowd. They aren’t yet aware, but bread is about to become His body, and His priests, the first of whom are the apostles, are sent on mission to “feed” everyone; to distribute Jesus to everyone. 

The bread is food, but it’s also so many other things. The bread that Jesus has given us is the actual Love of God; bread that sustains us in ways we can’t understand. It is the kind words that heal harsh ones. It is the gentle helping touch of a caregiver, and the patient, firm yet fair teacher in the classroom. It is the soup kitchen volunteer and the artist who creates beauty for the glory of God; the counsellor who gives the pain of others a safe place to rest. It is the priest’s merciful absolution of the penitent’s sincere confession. None of these things are sustainable or as effective without the Bread of Life.

This beautiful event that is described in the Gospel of Luke reminds me of the multi-faceted nature of the diamond that is our faith. The miracle of the loaves and the fish teaches me to pray boldly to our Father, to trust in His provision with confidence that I will receive more than what I need to minister to others. It teaches me that the bread is Jesus; the bread is compassion; the bread is healing; the bread is blessing; the bread is sustenance; the bread is a miracle; the Bread is God. The bread is everything.

Let us pray: Lord, we humbly ask for the grace to hold deeply in our hearts the knowledge that the Eucharist is love itself; that when we receive Him, we receive Love Himself.




Lindsay Elford

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