The miracle of the loaves and fish that Jesus worked for a crowd of people by Sea of Galilee is one of his most important miracles. All four gospels report it. Mark reports it twice.

Jesus takes five loaves and two fish and feeds more than five thousand people, according to Luke’s Gospel.  They not only have enough, they have more than enough.

Why does Jesus work this miracle? The reason the gospel gives is that the crowd he’s talking to is hungry. They’re far from where they could buy food for themselves and they’re hungry.

So, the first reason Jesus works this miracle is not to prove he has divine power, but because people are hungry. They need to live, and to live you need to eat. 

But their hunger– which is also our hunger– is for more than food and drink.  We want a place to live, we want a life where we can flourish as human beings. Their hunger, like ours, is for more than eating and drinking.

Luke’s gospel today begins by saying that Jesus was speaking to the crowds about the kingdom of God and he healed those who needed to be cured. He gives meaning to their search for meaning and he restores life to them.

 He renews the promises of God, beginning with the good things of creation, signified by the bread and the fish. Bread from the land; fish from the sea. Bread stands for everything, all the blessings this life can bring. The fish stands for the blessings the waters bring. 

Yesterday Pope Leo addressed representatives of over 80 nations and spoke to them of the blessings the world is hungering for today. He spoke of their responsibility to listen and to defend the vulnerable and the marginalized.” This means working to overcome the unacceptable disproportion between the immense wealth concentrated in the hands of a few and the world’s poor,” he.said.

“Those who live in extreme conditions cry out to make their voices heard, and often find no ears willing to hear their plea…This imbalance generates situations of persistent injustice, which readily lead to violence and, sooner or later, to the tragedy of war.” 

Today Leo spoke of the hunger for peace. “Today more than ever, humanity cries out and pleads for peace,” he said. The cry for peace “demands responsibility and reason and must not be drowned out by the roar of weapons or by rhetorical words that incite conflict.”

Pope Leo urged every member of the international community to take up their moral responsibility to “stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”When human dignity is at stake, he said, no conflict is distant. “War does not solve problems,”the Pope note. “On the contrary, it amplifies them and causes deep wounds in the history of peoples—wounds that take generations to heal… No military victory can ever compensate for a mother’s pain, a child’s fear, or a stolen future.”

The Pope expressed his hope for the din of arms to fall silent.“Let diplomacy silence the weapons!” he said. “Let nations shape their future with works of peace, not through violence and bloody conflicts!”

We pray today to Jesus Christ, who recognized the hunger of the crowd. May he recognize our hunger for justice and peace. He is present in our world, as the presence in the Eucharist assures us. He can reach places we cannot. He can speak to those we cannot. He can move hearts and minds beyond us.

We hunger for peace. Grant us peace, Lord.