Reflection for Sunday 22nd June, 2025

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ ‐ Solemnity

Of Bread and Fishes (Luke 9:11-17)

My name is Ben Sheba. My name may mean nothing to you but you have probably heard about me. You see, I was the small boy who gave the five barley loaves which Jesus used to feed hundreds, even thousands of people.

Let me fill you in on my memory of that day. ‘Twas April, just before the Passover when we would give thanks to God for the first grain harvest. Barley was the first grain of the season. Barley made a poor quality of bread, but at least it was fresh. My mother made a big batch of bread and gave me five loaves to bring to Granny’s house.

The two fish? One of the lads I used to play with on the shore … his dad was a fisherman. He kindly gave me two fish to bring home to my mother.

If Jesus asks you for something, make no excuses but give it to him.

We knew all these fishermen well … they were our neighbours. Everybody knew that a man from Nazareth called Jesus was a very holy man who was healing people. Some of our neighbours, Andrew and his brother, along with Zebedee’s sons, had left their nets and had gone off with the holy man.
They had come back to our place from the other side of the lake. Andrew recognised me and he jokingly asked me what I had in my bag. “Five loaves of bread for Granny and two fish for Mammy.”
Huge crowds soon gathered. I had never seen anything like it. I fell in with a few friends. Like young boys anywhere, we made our way to the front of the crowd, gathering on the hill side to hear the holy man.

To be honest with you, I had no idea what the holy man was saying, but he looked a very nice man. There was something about him, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
Jesus finished talking. Nobody made any effort to move away. Jesus and the men around him were having a conversation when I saw Andrew pointed towards me and he said something to Jesus. Then he came to me and asked would I give my five loaves and two fish to the man with the friendly face.
What would I say to my mother? What about Granny? Yet, I couldn’t say no to the holy man.

Anyway, you all know what happened. He blessed the bread and fish, and these multiplied, and they fed thousands. Nobody there that day could ever forget it. And there were lashings left over. Andrew gave back to me far more than five loaves and two fish.
Jesus moved on. Daily routine resumed. Years rolled by and I grew to manhood.
I never saw Jesus again. Andrew and Simon, now called Peter, became fulltime preachers.
They sometimes came back to our village. They told us that Jesus was the Messiah. Those of us who saw the miracle of the loaves and fishes had no problem in believing.

They also told us that Jesus had been crucified like a criminal but had risen from the dead. But before he died he told his followers that he would continue to remain with them in consecrated bread. Again, I had no problem in believing, for I had seen what he could do with bread … my bread, Mammy’s bread, Granny’s bread.
As I recall this happening over the years, there is one lesson I try to practise. If Jesus asks you for something, make no excuses but give it to him.
Don’t say … “look, I am only a small boy … I want this bread for Granny … what will Mammy say?”
The bread was of poor quality … barley bread … don’t say, “Sure, what would God want from my poor life …I have no talents worth talking about.”
Just give what you have and let God do the multiplying.
Give your time to somebody … a listening ear … a generous contribution to a worthy cause. Give what you have and God will do the multiplying. And in the scraps left over, you will find that you receive more than you ever gave.