It is because we live in this particular place that food is easily available to us. We may even forget about being thankful for what we have. Do you say grace before your meal? Do you thank God for the food on your table? How much food do you buy? How much goes wasted? It is easy to forget that there are still people, even in our midst, that don’t have enough to eat. When I read today’s gospel, I always reflect on these questions, and I realize that Jesus didn’t want to waste any food. That’s why, after the miracle of the multiplication of the bread and fish, Jesus said a blessing, fed all the people present there, and at the end He asked the people to pick up the fragments left over. Jesus knows that the food we have is a gift from God and shouldn’t be wasted. We also have another most precious food which is the Eucharist. That’s why after the Communion, after feeding the crowds, the priest or a deacon purifies the vessels, simply to make sure that even the smallest particles of the Heavenly Bread is not being wasted. Let us be thankful for the food on our table and the food from heaven on the altar. Not everybody has easy access to that.
