Word to the Wise
Monday, August 1, 2016 - Monday in the 18th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jer 28:1-17 and Matt 14:13-21 or, in Year A, Matt 14:22-36,479]MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2016. ST. ALPHONSUS LIGOURI [Jeremiah 28:1-17 and Matthew 14:13-21] "There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves." [Matthew] The multiplication of the loaves (and fishes) is the only miracle of Jesus that appears in all four gospels, which is an indicator of the importance and prominence of the incident in the story of Jesus. Although there is much that might be (and has been) said about how this incident took place, I prefer to take it on the level of significance and not on mechanics. The quote that catches my eye each time I encounter Matthew's account (and I mean this first one, not the second one in Ch. 15, which seems to be a repetition) are those words that challenge the disciples to come up with a solution to the problem! I can recall instances in my own pastoral experience when a problem seemed well beyond my resources to handle. I would say to the Lord: "I don't know what to do. This or that resource is all I have." Inevitably the response was, "That's all you need. Get on with it and I'll do the rest." My five loaves and two fish somehow make things work. I cannot explain it, I just do what I think the Spirit is asking me to do. And there have been times when I said the same thing to students who felt overwhelmed by circumstances. "What resources do you have? Use those and let the Lord take care of it with you." We each have our own load of loaves and fishes to offer. The important thing is to share them with the Lord and one another. Great things can happen. AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
80 ms
4
