GROW: If the multiplication of the loaves sounds oh so familiar … it’s because it is! It’s the only miracle story found in all four Gospels, and for good reason. Jesus multiplies the meager offering of a boy with five barley loaves and two fish and feeds a large crowd with baskets left over. The story is symbolic of the food that is readily available through Jesus in the Eucharist. The crowd in the Gospel that had been following Jesus was tired, worn out, and hungry. Don’t we all feel discouraged now and then? When we do, Jesus makes himself available to us in the Eucharist; he provides daily food that nourishes and sustains. When we eat this life-giving bread, we are strengthened and fortified, as was the crowd in the Gospel, as we heard: “They had more than they could eat.”