NOTES for Mat 12:30-37

The feeding of five thousand people with five loaves is a very vivid event. Of course, it anticipates the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper; it anticipates and is a type of every Eucharist celebrated by the Church. Today one detail seems important. In order for the miracle to take place, those poor five loaves and two fish were needed, most likely dried fish. The disciples had clearly already found out who had how much bread with him, and they had counted everything. Surely there was nothing else; these crumbs were the only thing found in that whole crowd, but in Christ's hands there comes from them food not merely sufficient but abundant. Yet those loaves did belong to someone. Someone unnamed, when the disciples asked, "Who has food?" answered, "Here, I have bread; take it." One would hardly think that these prudent listeners themselves had no need of bread.

Christians of the first centuries called what we bring to God in the sacrament of the Eucharist the "firstfruits" of creation. The firstfruits are a kind of pledge and sign that we bring to God everything created by Him. With them begins the miracle of multiplication, which makes something more out of created matter. By contrast, without the offering of these firstfruits, the abyss that separates God's world and this world remains impassable. We bring the firstfruits of the world and, in the words of St. Irenaeus of Lyons, receive from Christ's hands the firstfruits of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Each of us has something that can be brought to God, like those five loaves, or can be kept for ourselves. This is what the Lord is speaking about: "...whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matt. 16:25).