Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

In today’s Gospel reading we heard the familiar story of the feeding of the five thousand. After the death of John the Baptist, our Lord Jesus Christ, along with His disciples, retreated to a desert place to rest from the exhausting work of preaching and to calmly pray in solitude during those sorrowful days. John the Forerunner was, of course, dear to our Saviour; he was not only a relative, but also a co-worker in preaching repentance amongst the Jewish people. John’s death could not but have touched the heart of Jesus Christ.

In those difficult days, when the Saviour wished to dedicate at least a little bit of time to solitary prayer, the people searched Him out and came to Him with their sick, seeking healing. Naturally Christ, knowing that He was sent by His Heavenly Father to earth for the sake of the salvation of the perishing human race, went out to the people and healed not only their physical ailments, but also their spiritual ones. (Although Matthew mentions only that Jesus healed, Mark and Luke explain that He also taught. This is, of course, natural, for it cannot be that the Lord would not preach when the multitudes gathered around Him.) It was not a small group of people that came to Him, but about 5,000 men, besides an unspecified number of women and children. It was of such importance for these people to be near Christ and to hear His words that they neglected to bring with them anything to eat. In the late afternoon, our Lord Jesus Christ, not wishing to dismiss them hungry, took what was available, that is, five loaves of bread and two fish, multiplied them in a miraculous way, and through the Holy Apostles satiated the people.

Today we could talk about much, but let’s focus our attention on the people who searched out and came to Christ. Let’s take note of their zeal for the Lord and His teaching. They came to Him not for an hour or two, but for the whole day, and stayed with Him until the evening. To reach Him they were forced to walk quite a distance. We hear nothing about them complaining about having to travel far or about not being dismissed until late in the day. No, on the contrary, they delighted in the sweet words of the Saviour and the grace that flowed from His mouth. For such zeal the Lord did not abandon these people, but rewarded them not only with spiritual nourishment, but also with physical food.

Let us strive to be in closer contact with our Lord Jesus Christ more often, especially in dark moments. This is not too difficult to do. It is enough to mentally separate ourselves, at least for a time, from the vanity of the world, gather our thoughts and open the Holy Scriptures, to begin to pray, or come to the church services.

priest Alexis