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From: Ephesians 4:1-6

A Call to Unity

[1] I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to
which you have been called, [2] with all lowliness and meekness, with patience,
forbearing one another in love, [3] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. [4] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to
the one hope that belongs to your call, [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, [6]
one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.

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Commentary:

1-16. The second part of the letter points out certain practical consequences of
the teaching given earlier. The underlying theme of the previous chapters was the
revelation of the “mystery” of Christ — the calling of all men, Gentiles and Jews,
to form a single people, the Church. The second part of the letter begins with an
appeal to maintain the unity of the Church in the face of factors making for divi-
sion — internal discord (vv. 1-3), misuse of the different gifts or charisms with
which Christ endows individuals (v. 7), and the danger of being led astray by
heretical ideas (v. 14). Against this, St Paul teaches that the Church’s unity is
grounded on the oneness of God (vv. 4-6), and that Christ acts with full authori-
ty in the building up of his body, through its various ministries (vv. 8-13) and
through its members’ solidarity (vv. 14-16).

1. The exhortation begins by stating a general principle: a Christian’s conduct
should be consistent with the calling he has received from God.

Enormous consequences flow from the fact of being called to form part of the
Church through Baptism: “Being members of a holy nation,” St. Escriva says,
“all the faithful have received a call to holiness, and they must strive to respond
to grace and to be personally holy [. . .]. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who founds the
holy Church, expects the members of this people to strive continually to acquire
holiness. Not all respond loyally to his call. And in the spouse of Christ there are
seen, at one and the same time, both the marvel of the way of salvation and the
shortcomings of those who take up that way” (”In Love with the Church”, 5-6).

Speaking about incorporation into the Church, which is the way of salvation, Va-
tican II exhorts Catholics to “remember that their exalted condition results, not
from their own merits, but from the grace of Christ. If they fail to respond in
thought, word and deed to that grace, not only shall they not be saved, but they
shall be the more severely judged (see Lk 12:48: ‘everyone to whom much is gi-
ven, of him will much be required’; cf. Mt 5:19-20; 7:21-22; 25:41-46; Jas 2:14)”
(”Lumen Gentium”, 14).

2-3. The virtues which the Apostle lists here are all different aspects of charity
which “binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col 3:14) and is the mark
of the true disciple of Christ (cf. Jn 13:35). Charity originates not in man but in
God: “it is a supernatural virtue infused by God into our soul by which we love
God above everything else for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for
love of God” (”St Pius X Catechism”, 898). In its decree on ecumenism the Se-
cond Vatican Council shows the perennial relevance of these words of St Paul:
“There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without interior conversion.
For it is from interior renewal of mind (cf. Eph 4:23), from self-denial and unstin-
ted love, that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way. We
should therefore pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace to be genuinely self-deny-
ing, humble, gentle in the service of others and to have an attitude of brotherly
generosity toward them” (”Unitatis Redintegratio”, 7).

Charity is basic to the building up of a peaceful human society. ‘The conscious-
ness of being trespassers against each other goes hand in hand with the call to
fraternal solidarity, which St Paul expressed in his concise exhortation to ‘for-
bear one another in love’. What a lesson of humility is to be found here with re-
gard to man, with regard both to one’s neighbor and to oneself! What a school
of good will for daily living, in the various conditions of our existence!” (Bl. John
Paul II, “Dives In Misericordia”, 14).

The peace which unites Christians is the peace which Christ brings, or rather it
is Christ himself (cf. 2:14). By having the same faith and the same Spirit, “all find
themselves”, says St John Chrysostom, “brought together in the Church — old
and young, poor and rich, adult and child, husband and wife: people of either sex
and of every condition become one and the same, more closely united than the
parts of a single body, for the unity of souls is more intimate and more perfect
than that of any natural substance. However, this unity is maintained only by ‘the
bond of peace’. It could not exist in the midst of disorder and enmity.... This is a
bond which does not restrict us, which unites us closely to one another and does
not overwhelm us: it expands our heart and gives us greater joy than we could
ever have if we were unattached. He who is strong is linked to the weaker one to
carry him and prevent him from falling and collapsing. Does the weak person feel
weak?: the stronger person tries to build up his strength. ‘A brother helped is like
a strong city’, says the wise man (Prov 18: 19)” (”Hom. on Eph, 9, ad loc”.).

Union of hearts, affections and intentions is the result of the action of the Holy
Spirit in souls, and it makes for effectiveness and strength in apostolate.

“Do you see? One strand of wire entwined with another, many woven tightly to-
gether, form that cable strong enough to lift huge weights.

“You and your brothers, with wills united to carry out God’s will, can overcome
all obstacles” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 480).

4-6. To show the importance of unity in the Church, and the theological basis of
that unity, St Paul quotes an acclamation which may well have been taken from
early Christian baptismal liturgy. It implies that the unity of the Church derives
from the unicity of the divine essence. The text also reflects the three persons
of the Blessed Trinity who are at work in the Church and who keep it together —
one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father.

There is “only one” Holy Spirit, who brings about and maintains the unity of
Christ’s mystical body; and there is “only one” such body, the Church: “After
being lifted up on the cross and glorified, the Lord Jesus pours forth the Spirit
whom he had promised, and through whom he has called and gathered together
the people of the New Covenant, which is the Church, into a unity of faith, hope
and charity, as the Apostle teaches us (Eph 4:4-5; Gal 3:27-28) [...] It is the
Holy Spirit, dwelling in believers and pervading and ruling over the entire Church,
who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them toge-
ther so intimately in Christ, for he [the Spirit is the principle of the Church’s uni-
ty” (Vatican II, “Unitatis Redintegratio”, 2). All Gentiles as well as Jews are
called to join this Church; all, therefore, share the one single hope — that of be-
ing saints which is implied in the vocation they have received.

Recognition of there being only one Lord, who is head of the mystical body, un-
derlines the unity that should obtain among all the many members of this single
body. All its members are solidly built on Christ when they confess “only one”
faith—the faith that he taught and which the Apostles and the Church have ex-
pressed in clear statements of doctrine and dogma. “There can be only one faith;
and so, if a person refuses to listen to the Church, he should be considered, so
the Lord commands, as a heathen and a publican (cf. Mt 18:17)” (Pius XII, “Mys-
tici Corporis”, 10). All Christians have also received only one Baptism, that is, a
Baptism by means of which, after making a profession of faith, they join the other
members of the Church as their equals. Since there is only “one Lord, one faith,
one baptism,” “there is a common dignity of members deriving from their rebirth
in Christ, a common grace as sons, a common vocation to perfection, one sal-
vation, one hope and undivided charity. In Christ and in the Church there is, then,
no inequality arising from race or nationality, social condition or sex, for ‘there is
neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Gal 3:28; cf. Col 3:11)” (Vatican II,
Lumen Gentium”, 32).

God, the Father of all, is, in the last analysis, the basis of the natural unity of
mankind. Pope Pius XII, after recalling that the sacred books tell us that all the
rest of mankind originated from the first man and woman, and how all the various
tribes and peoples grew up which are scattered throughout the world, exclaimed,
“This is a wonderful vision which allows us to reflect on the unity of mankind: all
mankind has a common origin in the Creator, as we are told, ‘one God and father
of us all’ (Eph 4:6); moreover, all men and women share one and the same nature:
all have a material body and an immortal and spiritual soul” (”Summi Pontificatus”,
18). God is “above all”: his lordship and control over things means that he is the
author and maintainer of their unity. Throughout history he has acted “through all”
his children, that is, believers, whom he has used to bring about unity among
men and over all created things. And he dwells “in all” the faithful, for they be-
long to him; even the deepest recesses of their hearts are his.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: John 6:1-15

The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish

[1] After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea
of Tiberias. [2] And a multitude followed Him, because they saw the signs which
He did on those who were diseased. [3] Jesus went up into the hills, and there
sat down with His disciples. [4] Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at
hand. [5] Lifting up His eyes, then, seeing that a multitude was coming to Him,
Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”
[6] This He said to test them, for He Himself knew what He would do. [7] Philip
answered Him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of
them to get a little.” [8] One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother,
said to Him, [9] “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but
what are they among so many?” [10] Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”
Now there was much grass in the place; so men sat down, in number about five
thousand. [11] Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He
distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they
wanted. [12] And when they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples, “Gather up
the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.” [13] So they gathered them up
and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those
who had eaten. [14] When the people saw the sign which He had done, they said,
“This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”

[15] Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to
make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the hills by Himself.

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Commentary:

1. This is the second lake formed by the river Jordan. It is sometimes described
in the Gospels as the “Lake of Gennesaret” (Luke 5:1), because that is the name
of the area on the north-eastern bank of the lake, and sometimes as the “Sea of
Galilee” (Matthew 4:18; 15:29; Mark 1:16; 7:31), after the region in which it is lo-
cated. St. John also calls it the “Sea of Tiberias” (cf. 21:1), after the city of that
name which Herod Antipas founded and named after the Emperor Tiberius. In
Jesus’ time there were a number of towns on the shore of this lake — Tiberias,
Magdala, Capernaum, Bethsaida, etc.—and the shore was often the setting for
His preaching.

2. Although St. John refers to only seven miracles and does not mention others
which are reported in the Synoptics, in this verse and more expressly at the end
of the Gospel (20:30; 21:25) he says that the Lord worked many miracles; the
reason why the evangelist, under God’s inspiration, chose these seven must
surely be because they best suited His purpose—to highlight certain facets of
the mystery of Christ. He now goes on to recount the miracle of the multiplica-
tion of the loaves and the fish, a miracle directly connected with the discourses
at Capernaum in which Jesus presents Himself as “the bread of life” (6:35, 48).

4. St. John’s Gospel often mentions Jewish feasts when referring to events in our
Lord’s public ministry—as in the case here (cf. “The Dates of the Life of our Lord
Jesus Christ”, in the “The Navarre Bible: St. Mark”, pp. 49ff, and “Introduction to
the Gospel according to St. John”, pp. 13ff above).

Shortly before this Passover Jesus works the miracle of the multiplication of the
loaves and the fish, which prefigures the Christian Easter and the mystery of the
Blessed Eucharist, as He Himself explains in the discourse, beginning at verse
26 in which He promises Himself as nourishment for our souls.

5-9. Jesus is sensitive to people’s material and spiritual needs. Here we see Him
take the initiative to satisfy the hunger of the crowd of people who have been fol-
lowing Him.

Through these conversations and the miracle He is going to work, Jesus also
teaches His disciples to trust in Him whenever they meet up with difficulties in
their apostolic endeavors in the future: they should engage in them using what-
ever resources they have — even if they are plainly inadequate, as was the case
with the five loaves and two fish. He will supply what is lacking. In the Christian
life we must put what we have at the service of our Lord, even if we do not think
it amounts to very much. He can make meager resources productive.

“We must, then, have faith and not be dispirited. We must not be stopped by any
kind of human calculation. To overcome the obstacles we have to throw ourselves
into the task so that the very effort we make will open up new paths” (St. J. Es-
criva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 160).

10. The evangelist gives us an apparently unimportant piece of information: “there
was much grass in the place.” This indicates that the miracle took place in the
height of the Palestinian spring, very near the Passover, as mentioned in verse 4.
There are very few big meadows in Palestine; even today there is one on the eas-
tern bank of the Lake of Gennesaret, called El-Batihah, where five thousand peo-
ple could fit seated: it may have been the site of this miracle.

11. The account of the miracle begins with almost the very same words as those
which the Synoptics and St. Paul use to describe the institution of the Eucharist
(cf. Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:25). This indicates
that the miracle, in addition to being an expression of Jesus’ mercy towards the
needy, is a symbol of the Blessed Eucharist, about which our Lord will speak a
little later on (cf. John 6:26-59).

12-13. The profusion of detail shows how accurate this narrative is — the names
of the Apostles who address our Lord (verses 5,8), the fact that they were barley
loaves (verse 9), the boy who provided the wherewithal (verse 9) and, finally, Je-
sus telling them to gather up the leftovers.

This miracle shows Jesus’ divine power over matter, and His largesse recalls the
abundance of messianic benefits which the prophets had foretold (cf. Jeremiah
31:14).

Christ’s instruction to pick up the leftovers teaches us that material resources
are gifts of God and should not be wasted: they should be used in a spirit of po-
verty (cf. note on Mark 6:42). In this connection Paul VI pointed out that “after li-
berally feeding the crowds, the Lord told His disciples to gather up what was left
over, lest anything should be lost (cf. John 6:12). What an excellent lesson in
thrift — in the finest and fullest meaning of the term—for our age, given as it is to
wastefulness! It carries with it the condemnation of a whole concept of society
wherein consumption tends to become an end in itself, with contempt for the
needy, and to the detriment, ultimately, of those very people who believed them-
selves to be its beneficiaries, having become incapable of perceiving that man
is called to a higher destiny” ([Pope] Paul VI, “Address to Participants at the
World Food Conference”, 9 November 1974).

14-15. The faith which the miracle causes in the hearts of these people is still
very imperfect: they recognize Him as the Messiah promised in the Old Testa-
ment (cf. Deuteronomy 18:15), but they are thinking in terms of an earthly, po-
litical messianism; they want to make Him king because they think the Mes-
siah’s function is to free them from Roman domination.

Our Lord, who later on (verses 26-27) will explain the true meaning of the multi-
plication of the loaves and the fish, simply goes away, to avoid the people pro-
claiming Him for what He is not. In His dialogue with Pilate (cf. John 18:36) He
will explain that His kingship “is not of this world”: “The Gospels clearly show
that for Jesus anything that would alter His mission as the Servant of Yahweh
was a temptation (cf. Matthew 4:8: Luke 4:5). He does not accept the position
of those who mixed the things of God with merely political attitudes (cf. Matthew
22:21; Mark 12:17; John 18:36). [...] The perspective of His mission is much dee-
per. It consists in complete salvation through transforming, peacemaking, pardo-
ning, and reconciling love. There is no doubt, moreover, that all this makes many
demands on the Christian who wishes truly to serve his least brethren, the poor,
the needy, the outcast; in a word, all those who in their lives reflect the sorro-
wing face of the Lord (cf. “Lumen Gentium”, 8)” Bl. John Paul II, “Opening Ad-
dress to the Third General Conference of Latin American Bishops”, 28 January
1979).

Christianity, therefore, must not be confused with any social or political ideology,
however excellent. “I do not approve of committed Christians in the world forming
a political-religious movement. That would be madness, even if it were motivated
by a desire to spread the spirit of Christ in all the activities of men. What we have
to do is put God in the heart of every single person, no matter who he is. Let us
try to speak then in such a way that every Christian is able to bear witness to the
faith he professes by example and word in his own circumstances, which are de-
termined alike by his place in the Church and in civil life, as well as by ongoing
events.

“By the very fact of being a man, a Christian has a full right to live in the world. If
he lets Christ live and reign in his heart, he will feel—quite noticeably — the saving
effectiveness of our Lord in everything he does” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing
By”, 183).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.