July 29, 2018: 17th Sunday Ordinary B
July 29, 2018: 17th Sunday Ordinary B
Today’s gospel passage of the multiplication of five loaves and two fish is powerful miracle for us to ponder throughout our lives. If you could ask God to multiply one thing you have presently, what would that be? Would you ask for the crawfish étouffée in your freezer to multiply? Or would you ask for the multiplication of your intelligence, money, friendships, successes, health, or years of life? Of many things we could ask God to multiply, how many of those requests would be related to our fears--fear that we will run out of something, fear that we will fail, or fear that we will die? Even if we feel at the present moment that we have life all together, that nothing is lacking, and that we have everything in abundance, our life has a way of reminding us that we lack something. When we feel that “lack” in something, we crave for it to be multiplied --whether it be wealth, security, or health. When we feel unable to multiply what we desire - whether significant or insignificant, we call upon God to do it for us — often times through our prayers. Without a doubt, the feeling of helplessness is an unpleasant experience.
Picture yourself then in the disciples shoes as they behold a crowd of five thousand persons. Upon being asked by Jesus to feed this massive crowd, the disciples felt helpless with no money or provision to accomplish this feat. All they could find was a little boy who had five loaves and two fish. The bread and fish seemed to be useless before a hungry crowd of thousands, yet Jesus offered to the Heavenly Father the meager gifts and then it multiplied. This miracle was a reminder of how Moses fed the hungry and grumbling Israelites wandering in the desert with manna from heaven. The ability to be able to feed so many was also a foreshadowing of how Jesus the Bread of Life was going to feed us with His very self in the Eucharist. This miracle foreshadows that there is no limit to what Jesus would do to fulfill our greatest need. He knows of our material and physical need; yet, multiplying them will not fulfill us. Rather, our greatest need to is to love and serve God. What Jesus desires to multiply is our gifts and talents to love and serve Him through our family, friends, and people placed on our path.
In other words, what Jesus needs from us is our willingness to serve and trust of His judgment and not ours. St. Therese of Lisieux said, “What God likes to see is the way I love my littleness and my poverty...God rejoices more in what He can do in a soul humbly resigned to its poverty than in the creation of millions of suns and the vast stretch of the heavens.” We may be embarrassed that we have nothing more to bring to His service than our limited gifts and talents. What we bring may seem insignificant, but Jesus needs what we willingly offer in order to build the Kingdom of God. The little that we have can always be multiplied in the hands of Jesus.
We are called to offer our gifts lovingly to do Lord’s work. Yet if we are offering our gifts and talents to receive accolades in this life, we may need to look within ourselves and reflect upon our baptismal promises. We may never see the fruit of our work. As certain as I know that the sun will rise tomorrow, I know that everything we offer in this life must be for the greater glory of God.
