Luke 9:14

But that the difficulty of the miracle may be still more enhanced, the number of men is stated to have been by no means small. As it follows, And there were about five thousand men, besides women and children, (Mat. 14:21.) as another Evangelist relates.

He said to his disciples, "Make them recline in groups of fifty," and they did so. The various groups of diners represent the various congregations of the Churches around the world, which compose the one catholic Church. They reclined not only in groups of fifty, but, as Mark attests, in groups of a hundred as well. Since the fiftieth psalm is one of repentance, and the number one hundred passes from the left to the right, those who recline at the Lord's banquet in groups of fifty are positioned in repentance and hearing the word. Those who recline in groups of a hundred, having already presumed upon the hope of forgiveness, yearn solely for eternal life.

(ubi sup.) That Luke says here, that the men were ordered to sit down by fifties, but Mark, by fifties and hundreds, does not matter, seeing that one spoke of a part, the other of the whole. But if one had mentioned only the fifties, and the other only the hundreds, they would seem to be greatly opposed to one another; nor would it be sufficiently distinct which of the two was said. But who will not admit, that one was mentioned by one Evangelist, the other by another, and that if more attentively considered it must be found so. But I have said thus much, because often certain things of this kind exist, which to those who take little heed and judge hastily appear contrary to one another, and yet are not so.