JULY282024

The problem seemed overwhelming; five thousand hungry people. They simply did not have the resources to deal with the situation. The only had a little few bites of food, some loaves and fish. “What good are these for so many?” Jesus took that little bit and fed the multitude. Today our problems seem overwhelming as well: war, poverty, refugees, climate change, racism, political crises, the list goes on. Whatever we have to deal with all this seems too little. We need to have faith that the God who fed the crowd back then can care for us now. What resources do we have in the face of such difficulties? St. Paul suggests that what we have, our loaves and fish, is one another. It is our desire and our effort to live caring for one another and supporting one another as Church which creates the counter-narrative reversing the tendency for things to fall apart. Bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call. Jesus did not come to found a Church but to change the world. The chosen method for that change, however, is being Church, being a community of love. As Church we are to model what is possible. As Church we show that diverse people of many languages, cultures and races can live in love together. As Church we exhibit care for all the people who are hurting, not just our own membership. As Church we prove that we do not, as some claim, live in a transactional world where we’re constantly seeking something for ourselves, but rather in a community which seeks the good of all of us together. The world, the media, the politicians might look on what we do as church as too little. “What good is that?” But Jesus proves that if we do our little bit to make our homes, our neighborhoods, our city just a little bit more just, more compassionate, more generous, more loving, then God will multiply it in ways beyond our reckoning.