Today Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Mark (6: 33-44) in which Jesus, using a few loaves and a couple of fish, feeds a large crowd – all ate, all were satisfied.

Fr Paul says this story can be read on several levels. It is a foretaste of the Eucharist, the disciples gathered round Jesus as the new Israel for a fully satisfying meal, the messianic banquet.

Jesus is the good shepherd who feeds his flock, according to Psalm 23, on the green pastures beside the restful waters of the Lake of Galilee. Jesus is the prophet like Moses who provides manna for his people in the desert, or more exactly like Elisha in 2 Kings 4.

The story is recounted in terms which deliberately recall these and other biblical scenes, concentrating more on the meaning than on the historical facts. There must, of course, have been a wonderful feeling at the base of the story, but it is difficult to sense what this might have been.

Fr Paul says today’s Gospel reminds us to seek out Jesus just as the crowd in the Gospel did and to just spend some time listening to him.