About Today
Thursday 8 January 2026
8 January
Christ has appeared to us: come, let us adore him.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 2. Liturgical Colour: White.
Other saints: St Nathalan (-678)
Aberdeen
Nathalan, or Nachlan or Nauchlan, was born in the village of Tullich (now in Aberdeenshire), for which he was eventually appointed bishop. As well as the church in Tullich, he also built churches at Bothelim and Colle. He possessed a large estate, which he cultivated and distributed his harvest generously to the poor. He was one of the apostles of the region.
Other saints: St Peter Thomas (1305-1366)
8 Jan (where celebrated)
He said to them, ‘How many loaves do you have?
Gospel: Mark 6:34-44
At that time: When Jesus went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.’ But he answered them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ And they said to him, ‘Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘How many loaves do you have? Go and see.’ And when they had found out, they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing, and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
Reflection on the painting
What the disciples suggest sounds entirely sensible: dismiss the crowd so they can find food for themselves. It is the logical, efficient solution. But the Gospel so often unsettles what appears reasonable. Jesus has already nourished the people with his word; now he refuses to leave their hunger half-answered. He asks not for what they do not have, but for what they do have: five loaves, two fish. In the hands of Christ, scarcity becomes abundance. What looks insufficient from a human point of view becomes the very place where God chooses to act in plenty. Weakness, once surrendered, turns into a channel of abundant grace.
In fact, this is the quiet logic of the Eucharist. At every Mass, the Church places before the Lord the simplest of gifts, bread and wine, and from them he gives us his almighty, abundant self. God delights in working through what is small, fragile, and unremarkable. The same mystery unfolds on Calvary: at the moment of utter vulnerability, when strength seems spent, abundant love is revealed in its fullest power. And so it is with the Church, and with each of us. Precisely when we feel least equipped, least impressive, least enough’, the Lord may be closest to doing his greatest work. All we have to do is to keep placing ourselves in his hands.
Painted at the end of the sixteenth century, Ambrosius Francken’s Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, is a monumental panel (over 220 centimetres high) conceived as an altarpiece. It was commissioned by the Guild of Bakers and the Guild of Millers of Antwerp, and that civic pride explains why the loaves themselves are so conspicuously prominent: golden, tactile loaves, almost sculptural in their abundance. Christ sits at the heart of the composition, calm and authoritative, blessing the food as the miracle quietly unfolds around him. Francken populates the scene with a bustling crowd rendered in rich Baroque colour and costume, ranging from the expectant poor to attentive disciples, all arranged in carefully choreographed groups that lead the eye deep into the painting: the distribution of loaves and fish in the middle ground, in the distant background we see the leftovers being collected in baskets. . The painting is both devotional and civic: a meditation on divine providence, but also a visual hymn to bread as gift, labour, and sustenance.
Multiplication of the loaves and fish,
Painting by Ambrosius Francken I (circa 1544/1545–1618),
Late 16th century,
8 January
Christ has appeared to us: come, let us adore him.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 2. Liturgical Colour: White.
Other saints: St Nathalan (-678)
Aberdeen
Nathalan, or Nachlan or Nauchlan, was born in the village of Tullich (now in Aberdeenshire), for which he was eventually appointed bishop. As well as the church in Tullich, he also built churches at Bothelim and Colle. He possessed a large estate, which he cultivated and distributed his harvest generously to the poor. He was one of the apostles of the region.
Other saints: St Peter Thomas (1305-1366)
8 Jan (where celebrated)
He said to them, ‘How many loaves do you have?
Gospel: Mark 6:34-44
At that time: When Jesus went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.’ But he answered them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ And they said to him, ‘Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘How many loaves do you have? Go and see.’ And when they had found out, they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing, and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
Reflection on the painting
What the disciples suggest sounds entirely sensible: dismiss the crowd so they can find food for themselves. It is the logical, efficient solution. But the Gospel so often unsettles what appears reasonable. Jesus has already nourished the people with his word; now he refuses to leave their hunger half-answered. He asks not for what they do not have, but for what they do have: five loaves, two fish. In the hands of Christ, scarcity becomes abundance. What looks insufficient from a human point of view becomes the very place where God chooses to act in plenty. Weakness, once surrendered, turns into a channel of abundant grace.
In fact, this is the quiet logic of the Eucharist. At every Mass, the Church places before the Lord the simplest of gifts, bread and wine, and from them he gives us his almighty, abundant self. God delights in working through what is small, fragile, and unremarkable. The same mystery unfolds on Calvary: at the moment of utter vulnerability, when strength seems spent, abundant love is revealed in its fullest power. And so it is with the Church, and with each of us. Precisely when we feel least equipped, least impressive, least enough’, the Lord may be closest to doing his greatest work. All we have to do is to keep placing ourselves in his hands.
Painted at the end of the sixteenth century, Ambrosius Francken’s Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, is a monumental panel (over 220 centimetres high) conceived as an altarpiece. It was commissioned by the Guild of Bakers and the Guild of Millers of Antwerp, and that civic pride explains why the loaves themselves are so conspicuously prominent: golden, tactile loaves, almost sculptural in their abundance. Christ sits at the heart of the composition, calm and authoritative, blessing the food as the miracle quietly unfolds around him. Francken populates the scene with a bustling crowd rendered in rich Baroque colour and costume, ranging from the expectant poor to attentive disciples, all arranged in carefully choreographed groups that lead the eye deep into the painting: the distribution of loaves and fish in the middle ground, in the distant background we see the leftovers being collected in baskets. . The painting is both devotional and civic: a meditation on divine providence, but also a visual hymn to bread as gift, labour, and sustenance.
Multiplication of the loaves and fish,
Painting by Ambrosius Francken I (circa 1544/1545–1618),
Late 16th century,