“And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.”
How many loaves do you have? Jesus asked. Seven, they replied — the inventory establishes the starting point: seven loaves, compared to five in the first feeding. The smaller quantity relative to the still-large crowd (four thousand, compared to five thousand) makes the second miracle no less extraordinary. The disciples have slightly more to start with and fewer people to feed, but the dynamic is the same: inadequate provision against overwhelming need, transformed by Jesus' action into abundance.
Church Fathers on Mark 8:5
After the Lord had performed the former miracle concerning the multiplication of the loaves, now again, a fitting occasion presents itself, and He takes the opportunity of working a similar miracle.
Why they who came from afar hold out for three days, Matthew says more fully: 'And He went up into a mountain, and sat down there, and great multitudes came unto Him, having with them many sick persons, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.' [Matt. 15:29-30]
Or else, the seven loaves are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fragments of the loaves are the mystical understanding of the first week.
Read all 15 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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