one at a time
The miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fishes is the only miracle that is recorded in all four gospels. It was therefore a miracle well remembered, a miracle which all four writers of the gospel remembered quite well. For how can one forget such miracle - people ate the bread and the fish, they saw where these came from - from five loaves and two fishes, and there were 5 thousand men who can attest to this.
I remember also this story the first time it was narrated to us by my grandmother. In fact I remember even the little details not mentioned in this narrative from Matthew. In the gospel of John for example a little boy was mentioned as the source of the bread and fish. In fact outside the bible there was a legend circulating around about the story of this boy.
This little boy, legend says, wanted to hear Jesus speak. He asked permission from his mother. After much convincing the mother let her child go but not without giving him his lunch consisting of five small loaves of bread and two little fishes. Off went the boy, and since he was small he made his way through the crowd and positioned himself near Jesus but not too near for him to be noticed. When Jesus asked his disciples to feed the crowd, they saw this little guy with a baon in hand. Andrew took him and presented him to the Lord, not because Andrew predicted what Jesus would do, but because he wanted to prove to Jesus that what he was asking from them was an impossibility. How can you feed 5 thousand men? Nevertheless Jesus took whatever they had - the loaves and the fish from the boy. The boy willingly gave these to Jesus. And lo and behold right before their eyes, Jesus fed 5 thousand men - from where? - from a baon of five small loaves and two small fishes. The boy was amazed at what he saw and at the same time he was touched by this gesture of concern of Jesus for the well-being of the crowd. From then on this little boy became a follower of the Lord until he was asked to offer not just bread or fish but this time his own very life in martyrdom.
The reaction of Andrew and the disciples is the reaction of one who gets overwhelmed by the hugeness of the problem. How can you feed 5 thousand men? The reaction of the lad however, was one of marvel and amazement, of one who was taken aback that the little that he had can do so much when placed in the hands of Jesus.
The reaction of Andrew and the disciples is most often our reaction too to the overwhelming problems of the world. Look around you - the enormity of the problems that we see can overwhelm us - climate change, natural calamities one after the other, corruption, stealing and cheating, people killing people without reason at all. The things happening around us are just too much, and most often we are paralyzed into doing nothing.
However, when the little boy made his fives loaves and two fishes available to Jesus, the gospel is showing us that with God and goodness in our sight everything counts, even the little things we do, and the trivial goodness we pass around. God could always make the little things that we give him great, and he could multiply it a thousand-fold. We should never underestimate the little things that we generously give and generously do for the Lord.
Mother Teresa was presented with the dire situation of the world once – with all the problems of the world what would she do. Presented with statistics where more than half of the world population live below poverty line and are homeless, she was asked what she was planning to do. But Mother Teresa refused to be coyed to inactivity because of the enormity of the problem. Instead she said, “let’s just do it one at a time, one at a time.” One homeless person at a time, one little muddied, bruised little dirty girl at a time, one hungry man fed and clothed and loved at a time, one wrong made right at a time.
I have to admit that getting overwhelmed with the enormity of a situation has left me many times paralyzed in my ministry. Being assigned in the seminary again knowing that the population of seminarians are way, way down and the budget even worst made me hesitant to come home to face my responsibilities. Sometimes I would dream of winning the lotto or a mobbed of young men knocking on the seminary doors begging to be admitted. Then I would wake myself up and tell myself, one at a time, one at a time - put the little that you have in the hands of Jesus and great things can happen.
And look I am still here, you are still there - we survived this world and this life one problem at a time, one person at a time, one difficulty at a time.
Today is seminary Sunday. Today the little that you give for the colecta will solve our problems one at a time, just one at a time. Today we are taking this great risk of launching a scholarship program for young men who has the desire to become a priest but could not do so because of an overwhelming financial obligation which his family could not afford. I believe that God always calls young men to become priest - but the enormity of the problem and the overwhelming responsibilities can sometimes paralyze them in fear. Today we lessen a little this enormous obstacle with the little we can help.
Remember the lessons today - one at a time, one at a time; even with the little that we have when placed in the hand of Jesus can do so much.
I remember also this story the first time it was narrated to us by my grandmother. In fact I remember even the little details not mentioned in this narrative from Matthew. In the gospel of John for example a little boy was mentioned as the source of the bread and fish. In fact outside the bible there was a legend circulating around about the story of this boy.
This little boy, legend says, wanted to hear Jesus speak. He asked permission from his mother. After much convincing the mother let her child go but not without giving him his lunch consisting of five small loaves of bread and two little fishes. Off went the boy, and since he was small he made his way through the crowd and positioned himself near Jesus but not too near for him to be noticed. When Jesus asked his disciples to feed the crowd, they saw this little guy with a baon in hand. Andrew took him and presented him to the Lord, not because Andrew predicted what Jesus would do, but because he wanted to prove to Jesus that what he was asking from them was an impossibility. How can you feed 5 thousand men? Nevertheless Jesus took whatever they had - the loaves and the fish from the boy. The boy willingly gave these to Jesus. And lo and behold right before their eyes, Jesus fed 5 thousand men - from where? - from a baon of five small loaves and two small fishes. The boy was amazed at what he saw and at the same time he was touched by this gesture of concern of Jesus for the well-being of the crowd. From then on this little boy became a follower of the Lord until he was asked to offer not just bread or fish but this time his own very life in martyrdom.
The reaction of Andrew and the disciples is the reaction of one who gets overwhelmed by the hugeness of the problem. How can you feed 5 thousand men? The reaction of the lad however, was one of marvel and amazement, of one who was taken aback that the little that he had can do so much when placed in the hands of Jesus.
The reaction of Andrew and the disciples is most often our reaction too to the overwhelming problems of the world. Look around you - the enormity of the problems that we see can overwhelm us - climate change, natural calamities one after the other, corruption, stealing and cheating, people killing people without reason at all. The things happening around us are just too much, and most often we are paralyzed into doing nothing.
However, when the little boy made his fives loaves and two fishes available to Jesus, the gospel is showing us that with God and goodness in our sight everything counts, even the little things we do, and the trivial goodness we pass around. God could always make the little things that we give him great, and he could multiply it a thousand-fold. We should never underestimate the little things that we generously give and generously do for the Lord.
Mother Teresa was presented with the dire situation of the world once – with all the problems of the world what would she do. Presented with statistics where more than half of the world population live below poverty line and are homeless, she was asked what she was planning to do. But Mother Teresa refused to be coyed to inactivity because of the enormity of the problem. Instead she said, “let’s just do it one at a time, one at a time.” One homeless person at a time, one little muddied, bruised little dirty girl at a time, one hungry man fed and clothed and loved at a time, one wrong made right at a time.
I have to admit that getting overwhelmed with the enormity of a situation has left me many times paralyzed in my ministry. Being assigned in the seminary again knowing that the population of seminarians are way, way down and the budget even worst made me hesitant to come home to face my responsibilities. Sometimes I would dream of winning the lotto or a mobbed of young men knocking on the seminary doors begging to be admitted. Then I would wake myself up and tell myself, one at a time, one at a time - put the little that you have in the hands of Jesus and great things can happen.
And look I am still here, you are still there - we survived this world and this life one problem at a time, one person at a time, one difficulty at a time.
Today is seminary Sunday. Today the little that you give for the colecta will solve our problems one at a time, just one at a time. Today we are taking this great risk of launching a scholarship program for young men who has the desire to become a priest but could not do so because of an overwhelming financial obligation which his family could not afford. I believe that God always calls young men to become priest - but the enormity of the problem and the overwhelming responsibilities can sometimes paralyze them in fear. Today we lessen a little this enormous obstacle with the little we can help.
Remember the lessons today - one at a time, one at a time; even with the little that we have when placed in the hand of Jesus can do so much.
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