Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

246 ST. MATTHEW.
the true sense of it, and all the dispositions and
qualifications which are necessary to our improve-
ment by his other gifts ; but this he does by the
ministry of the pastors of his church.
" 37. And they did all eat, and were filled : and
they took up of the broken meat that was left seven
baskets full."
We are not truly filled but only when God him-
self feeds us. It is not enough barely to eat— it is
necessary also to be filled. Thou knowest, O ray
God, how very few there are who are fed and filled
with thy word, and with the flesh and blood of thy sa-
crifice, though all truly eat at thy table (that which is
a lively representation of) the latter, and read the
former in thy Scriptures ! Suffer not this abuse in
me. The more we communicate the gifts of God
to our neighbour, the more they abound in ourselves.
To distribute and disperse by charity, our spiritual
as well as temporal goods, is to sow in order to reap.
" 38. And they that did eat were four thousand
men, besides women and children."
Christ often gives to the charity which men have
for the poor, the grace of multiplying their alms.
When a man depends upon Providence, which sees
and can do all things, he is not in the least afraid
that his stock will be exhausted by the multitude of
the poor, and of their wants, either bodily or spiri-
tual. Let masters of families learn from this place
to trust to Providence, how numerous soever their
families may be.
" 39. And he sent away the multitude, and took
ship, and came into the' coasts of Magdala."
It is neither inconstancy nor curiosity which makes