In today’s gospel, after the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus has His disciples get on a boat toward Bethsaida while He remained on shore to pray. The disciples eventually were tossed around on the sea due to the wind before Jesus walked on the water and came aboard, stilling the wind for them.

What might these passages mean in a spiritual sense? Many things, but I will share a few thoughts of my own.

To begin with, the word “missa” from which “Mass” is derived, means ‘to send forth’. At the close of every Mass, after receiving Holy Communion, the congregation is sent forth as missionaries to the world, becoming “fishers of men” for Christ (Mt 4:19). This is verbalized in the priest’s words: “The Mass has ended, go forth…” Likewise, today’s gospel illustrates that after being fed by the miraculous bread, Jesus dismisses His followers onto a boat for them to go to Bethsaida, the other side of the lake, whose name literally means “House of Fisherman.” Not only did three apostle fishermen who turned “fishers of men” hail from Bethsaida (Peter, Andrew, Philip), but the small boat reflecting Noah’s ark of the new Covenant, i.e. the Church, was on route to the permanent ‘house’ of Christ’s ‘fishers of men’: Heaven.

The Holy Spirit, the breath of God (as the Son is the Word of God), is often symbolized by wind (Jn 3:8). Those with open hearts are comforted Him (Jn 14:26), but those with hardened hearts, like these disciples in the boat (Mk 6:52), experience the opposite effect. This is similar to how the Eucharist has a deleterious effect on those who receive unworthily (1 Cor 11:29). Hence, the disciples were afraid until Jesus came to still the wind for them.

At Pentecost and beyond, the apostles will welcome ‘the Wind’ with open hearts and open arms, most of whom to the point of martyrdom.