5 January 2027 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
St John writes the three words that sum up the Bible: “God is love.” He does not say only that God loves, but that love is what God is: the eternal exchange of Father, Son and Spirit. And he shows where we see it: “not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son.” Love begins with God, not with us. Our love is always an answer.
Mark shows that love in action. Jesus sees a great crowd, and “he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” First he feeds them with his word; then, when evening comes, he feeds them with bread. The disciples want to send the people away; Jesus says, “You give them something to eat.” Five loaves and two fish, blessed, broken and given, become enough for five thousand, with twelve baskets left over. The words he uses, took, blessed, broke, gave, are the words of the Last Supper. Every Eucharist is this compassion of the Shepherd.
Theme: “God is love.”
The compassion of the Shepherd who feeds his flock.
“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 34:15
“As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” Mark 6:34
Apply: Notice one person in need today before they ask.
“But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’”” 2 Kings 4:43
“But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?”” Mark 6:37
Apply: Give food to a family in need this week.
“the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Jeremiah 31:3
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7–8
Apply: Thank God tonight for three signs of his love.
The miracle of the loaves continues at every altar.
Love received becomes love shared.
Take-home resolution: Share a meal with someone in need this week.
Dear friends, St John today writes the most famous sentence of his letter: God is love (1 John 4:8). Not only does God love; love is what God is, from all eternity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
And John tells us where we can see this love: in this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son (1 John 4:10). Our love is always a reply. Before we ever prayed, God loved us.
In the Gospel Jesus sees a great crowd and has compassion for them, because they are like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). He first teaches them, feeding their minds and hearts. Then evening comes and they are hungry.
The disciples say: send them away. Jesus says: you give them something to eat (Mark 6:37). They have only five loaves and two fish. Jesus takes them, looks up to heaven, blesses, breaks and gives. Five thousand eat and twelve baskets are left over. Our little in his hands becomes enough.
These are the words of the Last Supper and of every Mass: took, blessed, broke, gave. Let us bring our five loaves today, our time, our money, our talents, and let him multiply them for others. Amen.
Children, the disciples had only five loaves and two fish, and Jesus fed thousands of people! When you share, Jesus can do great things with your little gift.
Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, you had compassion on the hungry crowd. Take my five loaves and two fish, bless them and use them for others, and teach me to love as you have loved me. Amen.
John writes the shortest and greatest definition in the Bible: “God is love”. He does not leave it as an idea. God's love was revealed when he sent his Son. Mark shows what that love looks like: Jesus looks at a tired crowd, is moved in his heart, teaches them and feeds them. The Epiphany psalm continues today with its prayer for a king who cares for the poor.
Setting.
The letter has just warned against false spirits (4:1–6). Now it gives the positive side, and for the rest of the chapter love is its single subject. These four verses are among the most loved in the New Testament. They give the reason for all Christian love: it comes from God and begins with God.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (4:8)
John does not say that love is God, nor only that God loves. He says that God's very being is love. Only the Letter of John says this in so many words (4:8, 16). The Catechism calls this God's “innermost secret”: he is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (CCC 221).
“In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (4:10)
If we want to know what love is, we are not to start from our own feelings. We start with what God did. Pope Benedict XVI says that because God has loved us first, love is now not a mere command but a response to a gift (Deus Caritas Est 1).
How the Church reads it.
St Augustine preached ten homilies on this letter in Easter week, and it was in the homily on this chapter that he said his famous words: “Love, and do what you will.” He was speaking about correcting others: love may be strict or gentle, but it must always be the root (in substance, Homilies on the First Letter of John 7). They are not a licence for doing as one pleases, but a measure of everything one does.
Setting.
The apostles have returned from their first mission, and Jesus has taken them to a quiet place to rest (6:30–32). The crowd arrives first. This is the only miracle of Jesus' public life told in all four Gospels. Its background is rich: God fed Israel in the desert with manna (Exodus 16), and Elisha fed a hundred men with a few loaves (2 Kings 4:42–44).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“because they were like sheep without a shepherd;” (6:34)
Moses prayed that Israel might not be so (Numbers 27:17), and Ezekiel 34 promised that God himself would shepherd his people. The first thing Jesus gives them is teaching.
“But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”” (6:37)
Two hundred denarii was about two hundred days' wages (compare Matthew 20:2). The disciples count what they lack. Jesus asks them to count what they have, however small.
“Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people;” (6:41)
The same four verbs return at the Last Supper (Mark 14:22). The disciples' part is to carry it to the people.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that this miracle, when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his disciples, prefigures “the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist” (CCC 1335). The Church also sees here that the priest at Mass, and each of us in our charity, hands on what we have received. The groups of hundreds and fifties recall how Moses organized Israel in the desert (Exodus 18:21), and the “green grass” may recall Psalm 23.
Some say that the real miracle was that people shared the food they had hidden. Is that what Mark says?
No. That is a modern suggestion, and the text gives no hint of it. Mark says that five loaves and two fish fed five thousand men and left twelve baskets over, and the Church reads this as a true act of the Lord's power (CCC 1335). Sharing is certainly the fruit of the miracle in our lives, but it does not replace it.