Such a beautiful story in
our gospel today. I’m sure if you or I
were there at that time we would have really just had our eyes going WOW! Look at this.
Look what’s happening. And I
wonder if sometimes too, you know, even in our lives today right here, 2009,
little St. Alphonsus Parish in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, is Jesus asking
something of you or me today that maybe we feel is beyond our limited
resources? And that’s what happened in
the gospel, right? Five thousand men,
that’s what the scriptures say, so there were probably two or three times as
many women and children. A very large
crowd. And of course Jesus asked them
you know, where are we going to find the food to feed all these people? They were out in the deserted regions so
there wasn’t a fast-food restaurant around.
No McDonald’s or any place like that.
They didn’t have it with them and Jesus said, “How are we going to feed
all of them?” Now as the scriptures say
He knew what He was going to do but He said this to test them.
So again maybe that’s a
challenge for you and for me. Jesus is
going to ask something of you and me today or this week or at this moment in
time in our lives. Perhaps like Nathaniel
we’re going to say, “Whoa, we did not win the lottery but we are still going to
have enough money to do everything we want and need to do.” Well, the excuses can go on and on. We’re always going to say, “Well gee I’m not
smart enough,” or “I wouldn’t know what to say,” or “I wouldn’t know how to say
it,” or, “I feel overwhelmed myself, I got enough on my plate,” or, “I don’t
have enough time,” or, “I did it once before and nobody listened,” or, “I
called and nobody heard me,” or, “I signed up and nobody called me,” or, “I
went and nobody was there.” And the list
can go on and on and on. “I’m too weak,
I’m not courageous enough.”
And Jesus says, “Cut
it. I don’t want excuses. All I want is your heart.” And everyone of us here today has a heart. The beauty, I think, of this reading, you
know, did five loaves suddenly become 500 or 5000? Poof! Just like that? I wonder if the miracle was that Jesus
generosity and willingness and openness to be and to care and have compassion
for other people sparked in all the other people that desire, that willingness
to share. Instead of each one of us
sitting there and turning in on myself saying, “I can’t” we opened up our arms
and we said, “We can.” That together we
can make wonderful and beautiful things happen.
You know it’s kind of out of
my own poverty, out of my own weakness God brings great riches and wealth and
generosity. I think the whole point
really of John’s gospel here and the other readings that talk about the
multiplication of the loaves is really to say look at the generosity of God in
giving us His Son Jesus. “If you think
there’s a miracle here in five loaves becoming food for 5000 or more people you
haven’t seen anything yet! Because my
Son Jesus is going to give you the gift of eternity and the gift of the power
over sin and death.”
There is the generosity of
God. I think that’s underlying. This is just kind of the backdrop. And we get so hung up on seeing how many men
and women were there, how did it happen?
How did it take place? We forget
the real bottom line. Does that make
sense? I think that’s the miracle. That God said, “I’m giving you something
more, not just to feed your body, but something to feed your heart and your
soul.”
There is no scarcity of the
Spirit. When you and I tap into God-love
and to God-power that’s infinite. We’ll
never run out of it. So as we sit here
today. You know not too long ago, I
don’t know when it was I don’t remember, walking through some cemetery. I don’t know if it was here in
You know I’ve been there
too, the most tragic things too when that phone call comes and you know there
is a death in our family, or somebody’s terribly sick. But perhaps we get the other kind of phone
call that says, “Hi, I’m coming over to see ya.
What’s for eats tonight?” And you
have that panic, cause you see there’s nothing in the fridge. It’s always something. It could be from the economy. It can be from the world. I can be from my own lack or my own hopes or
fears or desire. But the point is, as a
good friend of mine in St. Louis would always say, she’d say, “Pat, this too
shall pass.” Things that we get so bent
out of shape about, once we begin to put them in perspective, and to look from
a wider angle, yes eventually they do pass.
We become the richer for it. We
dig down a little bit deeper, we pull off the best of who we are.
I think through all of this
what I hear the gospel saying, especially as you go into the second reading,
here’s how I want to live my life and here’s how Paul is telling us. Live with humility, with gentleness, and
patience.
Humility. Humility comes from the Latin word, humus,
with means “of the earth, the ground.”
In other words everyone of us here is walking the same earth. I didn’t see anybody fly in here this
morning. You all walked. You and I are walking on the same good earth
that God has given to each and every one us.
There is no one in here who is any better or any worse. So we are all in this together. So be humble about who you are and be
grateful as well.
Paul says live with
gentleness. In other words be good to
yourselves folks. There is enough
hardship. There’s always something,
right? There is enough pain, doubt,
worries, fears, anxieties in our world so be gentle with yourselves. Be good to yourselves. Gentleness is a great spirit to have. There is enough harshness. There is enough of the edges of life. We want to round them off if possible. So you be gentle and be good to
yourself. That’s not being selfish
because you cannot give what you don’t have.
So be good to yourself. Fill
yourself up with the compassion, the joy, the mercy and the love of God then
you and in turn can let if flow through us to touch somebody else.
Then Paul says finally, be
patient. Some people are saying, “be
patient, what do you mean it’s already 11:00.
I gotta go someplace. Patience
just doesn’t mean enduring something.
That’s kind of our traditional way of saying “Oh be patient, stop
moaning, complaining and griping. Endure
it. Suffer it. Bear with it.
You’ll get through it.” The root
meaning of the word patience again from the Latin means “to receive.” That’s a whole different way of looking at
it. To be patient means to receive what
God wants to give to you and to me. And
I look at it this way. I am receiving
the gift of life today from this gracious God.
I am receiving the gift of who you are at this Mass. I am receiving the gift of Jesus at this
Eucharist. I have eyes to see the beauty
of the flower. I have the eyes to see
the gift of sunshine out there. I have
feet to walk. I have hands to
shake. I have arms to hug. Everything that you and I are have been given
to us by a loving, compassionate, caring God.
To receive that in gentleness of spirit.
Okay. That’s how we get through
it.
That makes all the
difference in the world. And you and I
come here this morning, where divinity and humanity are going to meet on this
altar in Jesus Christ. God is going to
come to you and me again this morning and give us the gift of His Son
Jesus. Then you and I can go back
through those door and we can be humble, we can be gentle, and we can be
patient. God will work beautiful
miracles because he will take the littleness that you and I may feel, our
poverty, whatever it might be and God will increase it. You and I will never run out of the beauty,
the goodness and the light that is inside.
So go forth from this
Eucharist today and be a humble people, a gentle people, the patient people
that God wants you and I to be. Live
life to it’s fullest, do not take it for granted. What you and I have given, you see in
yourself, you will be able to give to other people. And you know when you give it to other people
you give them permission to be good to themselves as well. And that’s what we are about once again for
today.
There’s the miracle. God multiplying His love through you and
me.