TRINITY xxv
THE Church has shown a special affection for the mysterious
narratives of Christ’s feeding the multitudes, seeing in them the type
and figure of the feast still more mysterious and holy which Christians
share. The evangelists' story throws no light upon the working of the miracle,
except in telling us that Jesus gave thanks over the bread and certainly
everything becomes charged with divine power when we have given thanks
for it to God. Our whole life becomes a sacrament of blessing to ourselves
and others, if we are sincerely and continually thankful for it to our
Creator. In the sacrament we celebrate today, Christ says a final grace
for us over the banquet which divine goodness has spread for us in the
past year. Consider how marvellous, how various, how rich a thing our existence
has been, and is. Christ's thanksgiving is alone worthy and sufficient.
He makes the thanksgiving for us, by the offering of his life; we say the
words after him, we receive the crumbs that he has blessed.
