Today in the gospel we encounter a miracle.
The word miracle comes from the latin, miraculum, which means an "object of wonder." It is also related to mirari, "to wonder" and mirus, "wonderful."
A miracle is that which causes wonder. This of course seems a bit watered down but in fact a true miracle does cause us to wonder, it gets our attention, causes us to stop, to pause, to think anew.
The miracle of the loaves and fish in today's gospel passage certainly does all of this and more.
It grabs our attention, it causes us to wonder.
It all started with a simply blessing by Jesus: "then, taking the the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. Also, he divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. those who ate were five thousand men."
A simple blessing causes a great deal of wonder, it was in fact wonderful.
Every time we say blessing, over our meal, or over our children, or over our spouse or for someone we invoke the heavens to open and God's presence to come down into our world. It is wonder itself; it is an object of wonder; it is wonderful.
With every blessing we invoke we are asking God to do something wonderful with us and through us for the world.
A blessing from St. John Neumann:
"To you I consecrate all the powers of my soul and body, my whole being. Would that I could infuse into all hearts a burning love for you. What great glory would be given to you here on earth, if every heart were an altar on which every human will were laid in perfect conformity with your will to be consumed by the fire of your love."
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