ENOUGH FOR EVERYBODY'S NEED

I wanna share you last sunday's gospel:

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.

When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, "This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves."

Jesus said to them, "There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves."

But they said to him, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have here."

Then he said, "Bring them here to me," and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.

Taking the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over- twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

-Jesus chooses to deny himself of such very human and legitimate need. He sets aside his personal concerns the very instant that he sees the crows vying for his attention. His apostles do not realize the huge sacrifice that Jesus is making as he faces the crowd and heals their sick relatives. He sets his own plan to give room to other people's needs, but this is something the apostles fail to see. Instead, they instruct Jesus as to what he must do.

The apostles do not want to get involved any further with the crows. In their own reckoning, they have already done enough. We can see ourselves in these apostles every time we are afraid to get involved and unwilling to share with others our blessings of time, talents and treasures.

Jesus multiplies bread and fish after having healed the sick for the whole day. He does so not only to manifest his power and glory but because he has compassion for the crowd. One need not give the hungry people the roundabout. Jesus challenges the apostles to find a solution. He directs them to find a solution in every meager resources.

Jesus emphasizes that the self-giving and sacrifices is more important than the quantity or material value of one's offerings. God's miracles happen only when man is involved. Whatever small blessing man possesses can be an instrument of God's miracle if put in the hands of God.

Nowadays, people reason out that they do not have much to offer since they themselves are poor. What Jesus shows us in today's Gospel is meant to banish such illusion. For him, each one of us is important, and if Jesus were make present-day miracles, he would always involve the contribution of everyone.

How true indeed is the saying that there is always enough for everybody's need but never enough for everyone's greed. We can only taste and see the goodness of life if we spread our table in the spirit of sharing and solidarity.
-thanks to Fr. Paul J. Marquez, SSP for this enlighten message.


Here in the blogworld, everyone has a good purpose in blogging. Personally, I've met a lot of nice bloggers who share their own blessings of time, talents, and treasures. I really enjoy your good company guys. Thank you all!