Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

[icarlytradcath]

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

By Udalricus Campiliensis († c. 1358)

(AI Translation)

This Sunday it is sung that Christ fed four thousand people with seven loaves and a few fish. Just as there are different kinds of bread, so too are there different states of the soul: some eat wheaten bread, as those observing childlike innocence; some eat bran bread, like those who sin daily; some eat barley bread, like those who are truly penitent. This bread of the penitent is made of four ingredients: the affliction of weeping, the effect of contrition, the action of continence, and the example of the saints. Furthermore, we must nourish the soul with the remembrance of the Lord’s passion, frequent prayer, meditation, and fasting. The bread of the Word is given even to the wicked—though they may consume it with a spirit of mutation, impatience, or contempt—whereas for the good, there is a fourfold bread: of instruction for the ignorant, of consolation for the sorrowful, of thanksgiving for the blessed, and of remuneration for the active. Therefore, it is our duty to nourish ourselves with the bread of the Lord.

Old Testament (Left)
In Numbers 11, it is read that Moses fed the people with quails in the desert. Just as Christ in the desert satisfied the multitude with loaves, so too did Moses feed them with quails. Moses was taken from the waters. This signifies Christ, who, having risen from the waters of our mortality, becomes a monument of salvation. He fills His people with eternal life; He feeds the heart, the words, and the bodies of those vowed to Him, sustaining the soul with the sweet benefits and graces of the Holy Spirit, by which He comforts the faithful who seek Him.

Old Testament (Right)
In Exodus 16 is is read that ravens fed Elijah by the torrent of Cherith, which means "fire", by the command of the Lord. Just as Christ commanded the disciples to distribute the loaves to the crowds, so the Lord commanded the ravens to feed the prophet. By these "ravens," we understand the preachers and disciples of Christ—those teachers who cry out to the multitude and feed them in the face of the bitterness of death. The Lord commands them to nourish the devout and contemplative person—who is "fiery" in faith and enkindled by the Holy Spirit—by the torrent of Cherith, awaiting the Lord’s mercy, which we find in the morning of our youth and the evening of our old age, until we are comforted and perfected in virtue.

Nature (Left)
Pliny and Alexander write that if a mare in a herd dies, another one out of compassion nourishes the orphaned foal. If the world is an image of this mare, may God grant to us, her foals of stubborn heart, every kind of provision. If our natural mother has failed us, may we be received into the love of the Church, finding in a devout life our true nourishment. Thus, in the pure vision of Christ, may we lift up our hearts to follow His passion. Just as a strange mother nourishes a foal out of compassion, so does He provide for His people through the preaching of the Gospel and the collation of the Holy Spirit, healing us with the Bread of Life until we have sufficiency.

Nature (Right)
Augustine says that a raven does not feed its chicks until their feathers grow and they take on the full likeness of their parents. So too, the "chicks" of the Church—the simple and the new—are formed into the likeness of Christ until they reach maturity. This is perfected through faith, charity, and the pursuit of holiness; only then do they arrive at the fullness of Christ’s mercy. Through this likeness to the Father, they are no longer merely sustained by the help of others, but are nourished by the Lord Himself, who appears with the bread and fish of His comfort and heavenly consolation, tending to them as His dearest children.