Homily Reflection 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time B
THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES AND FISH. LITTLE THINGS
In the next five Sundays, the Gospel will center around Jesus’ discourse on the “Bread of Life” (Holy Eucharist) found in the Gospel of St. John.
In this Sunday’s readings, the 1st reading, Responsorial Psalm and the Gospel narrate God’s merciful and salvific intervention with the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves:
- “ For thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.’ And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the Lord had said (2 Kgs 4:44).”
- “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs (Ps 144).”
- “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted (Jn 6: 11-12.”
IDEAS FOR PERSONAL MEDITATION:
- Once more, we have to be convinced of this fact: GOD PROVIDES! Here we see how Jesus is sensitive not only to our spiritual but also to our material needs. Out of His merciful love and compassion, He takes the initiative to satisfy the hunger of the multitude who have followed to listen to His teachings.
- At the same time, OUR LORD WANTS US TO TRUST HIM in all our apostolic endeavours. He wants us to put all the resources we have on hand, even if we see them as inadequate, as in this case (with just five loaves and two fish) and leave the rest to His Providence for HE COULD TURN OUR MEAGER AND INSUFFICIENT RESOURCES INTO SOMETHING ABUNDANT AND PRODUCTIVE WAY BEYOND OUR IMAGINATION.
“We must, then, have faith and not be dispirited. We must not be stopped by any kind of human calculation. To overcome the obstacles we have to throw ourselves into the task so that the very effort
we make will open up new paths”
St. Josemaria, “Christ is Passing By”, 160).
- Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that THE MIRACLE WAS CARRIED OUT WITH THE GENEROSITY OF A LITTLE BOY WHO HAD FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH.
- With this, OUR LORD WANTS TO REMIND US TODAY OF THE GREAT VALUE OF LITTLE THINGS IN OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE, IN OUR VOCATION TO HOLINESS. From the human viewpoint, the resources at hand were absolutely insufficient. But God has the power to turn them, as we said, in something exceedingly abundant! And it all started with just that: something little!
Dear friends: HOLINESS IS MADE UP OF THE LITTLE THINGS EACH DAY CARRIED OUT WITH GENEROSITY AND LOVE. Our Lord doesn’t not expect from each one of us great acts of heroism but rather, the heroism in the little things of our daily life done out of love: saying “no” to the manifestations of egoism, laziness, sensuality, vanity, envy, greed…an so forth: all of which are manifestations of our “Yes” to God’s Will.
As St. Josemaria said:
“Do everything for Love. Thus there will be no little things: everything will be big. Perseverance in little things for Love is heroism. A little act, done for Love, is worth so much!
Do you really want to be a saint? Carry out the little duty of each moment: do what you ought and concentrate on what you are doing. For ‘great’ holiness consists in carrying out the ‘little duties’ of each moment. And “great souls pay much attention to little things.”
St. Josemaria, The Way, nn. 813-818.
Knowing all these, LET US ASK THE INTERCESSION OF OUR LADY, ST. JOACHIM AND ST. ANNE, SO THAT WE MAY LEARN TO TRUST MORE IN GOD’S MERCIFUL LOVE, COMPASSION AND PROVIDENCE, GENEROUSLY GIVING AND MAKING USE OF THE MEAGER MEANS WE HAVE WITHIN OUR REACH AND AT THE SAME TIME, VALUE AND DISCOVER GOD IN THE LITTLE THINGS OF EACH DAY, CARRIED OUT OF LOVE.
A Blessed week ahead to you and your family!
-Fr. Rolly Arjonillo
PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.combonianos.pt/imgs/bo/EvangelhoDom29072012MP.jpg
VIDEO COMMENTARY
TOPIC: ARE YOU SEEKING MATERIAL WEALTH OR SPIRITUAL HEALTH?
In today’s gospel reading, we focus on one facet of this story rich in symbolism. We look at the crowd and their behavior. They have followed Jesus wherever He went because of the miraculous healing He had done on the sick among them. They also felt a certain freshness in Jesus’ teachings that they have never heard before. But following Him can be very taxing. At some point, they became hungry. Jesus knew this and used a boy to deliver this astounding miracle of the two fish and five loaves. We reflect today on our own hunger that can drive us to anger, not just when we are physically hungry, but when despair also sets in as problems continue to pile up – our business is losing money, we are laid off from our job, Covid-19 or some dreaded disease afflicts us, a loved one suddenly dies, a relationship breaks down, and so on and so forth.
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