Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian; Passing into Eternal Life of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky, 1944; Passing into Eternal Life (1947) of Blessed Theodore Romzha, Bishop of Mukachevo, and Martyr
Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read
Colossians 2:1-7; Luke 9:12-17
The multiplication of the loaves is the only miracle story recounted in all four gospels. At the heart of each are the four verbs: “take, bless, break, give.” This event neatly foreshadows the Last Supper and by extension, the Holy Eucharist. Lest we reduce the Holy Eucharist to a dead ritual, it first responds to the Lord’s injunction to the disciples: “You give them something to eat!” The Eucharist is food, given from the Lord himself, from his own life: “we offer to you, yours, of your own, in behalf of all and for all.” The priest says this in the middle of the anaphora, recognizing that this sacrifice has its origin in God. Priests simply lend a hand to this work, distributing the Food the bounty that the Lord has multiplied to satisfy the deepest hunger of the crowd. Why aren’t churches full to receive this bounty? Because the need to be reminded of their hunger. Like a psychologist who uncovers through therapy the root causes of our sadness, we need to be engaged in this work to remind people of their essential hunger for the life of God.