In today's Gospel, the disciples' lack of perception is expressed in a series of seven questions which Jesus addressed to them. They had failed to grasp the Christological dimension of the "Bread" miracles, which they had seen and remembered the exact details. Jesus wanted them to probe deeper into the meaning of the "Bread" event. They had brought along one loaf in the boat with Jesus. But Jesus the "Broken Bread for the world" is distant from their faith experience. Our Eucharistic experience is similar to their incomprehension. We too remain "distant" from each and every particle of the Eucharistic Bread we participate in. Our over familiarity has numbed our faith.

Faith is a necessary condition for recognizing the signs of God's presence in our history. The signs are there everywhere, but given the obduracy of our hearts we are unable to perceive them for what they are. The signs of His Presence are as ordinary as Bread. Faith does not depend on miracles. But for miracles to take place there needs to be an attitude of faith, namely the vision by which we see everything and every situation from the viewpoint of God. The antidote for the hardness of our hearts is faith-filled vision and constant effort to read the 'signs of the times'. Vatican II considers the reading of the 'signs of the times' as an important aspect of our spirituality (Church in the Modern World).