The feeding of the five thousand is a symbol of our obligation to help one another and especially to help the poor and those who have missed out. It is quite clear of course from this story and from our own whole body of Catholic teaching that Our Lord is not against material things. Our Lord very much values them. It is one reason why we can use the bread and the wine as symbols which become the body and blood of Christ. The Catholic answer, the traditional Christian answer, has always been that is not true.
Material things are good.
We pray for our daily bread. But we also know that too much of these material things, or lusting after them too much, can dry our heart up, so that we become unable to feel the needs of others and compassion is finished or very, very limited. This I think is the only miracle from Jesus' public life, which is found in all four of the Gospels and we have got an account today from Matthew, indeed Matthew and Mark have two such accounts. And it is clear that right from the start the people there saw it as something more than an expression of Our Lord's compassion for the people, although it was certainly that. Because we are told in Mark that the people didn't understand what was going on.