What can five loaves and two fish do? How
can these ever satisfy the hunger of the multitude? Five loaves and two fish
for the five thousand men?! Not to
mention women and children who were most likely among the crowd! Impossible!
This must have been the thoughts of the
apostles in today’s gospel (Lk 9: 11b-17) as they counselled Jesus to dismiss
the crowd that they might find their own lodging and provisions. The feeling of helplessness and resignation
must have dominated the apostles’ attitude: Helplessness because of the obvious poverty of
resources in the face of so great a need; and resignation because they felt no
longer capable of addressing the crowd’s hunger. The need was simply beyond
what they thought they could handle, so they opted for the easy solution—“dismiss
the crowd” (v. 12).
This temptation to feel helpless and
resigned is indeed very strong whenever we are confronted with the problem of
having to come to terms with so little resources for so great a need. I had the opportunity to start a parish from
out of a rural chapel community. Right away as I began the journey with the
people, I was made aware of so many things to be done which required, of
course, resources. Indeed, there were
times when we were tempted to feel helpless whenever we realized we have very
little to start with. It wasn’t
difficult to wonder, as the Lord’s apostles did, what can five loaves and two
fish do in the face of all the needs.
Sharing
overcomes poverty. But the gospel today not only
assures us that we are not left alone in our poverty but also shows us the
secret to overcoming the needs of the community. As an assurance, Jesus does not dismiss the
hungry crowd to fend for themselves. Rather, the gospel recounts that after
gathering the people, Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives the five loaves
and two fish to the crowd to satisfy everyone present and even amazes them with
the abundant surplus afterwards. Jesus takes whatever we can offer even out of
our poverty, blesses them and does his marvelous works out of them. Jesus brings us out of the helplessness of
our poverty and assures us of the unlimited abundance that he offers. The
secret: He starts by asking what we have to offer. The secret to abundance is
sharing even whatever little we have.
Are we willing to offer him the last bread
and fish that we have? Or do we hold on to our limited resources to make sure
we have something left for ourselves albeit little?
I am more and more convinced that any form
of poverty in any community is fundamentally rooted in the unwillingness of the
individuals to share what they are keeping for themselves. There’s a lot of
wisdom in our erstwhile national slogan, “Bayan muna bago sarili.” We could
have been enjoying in abundance now had we truly lived by the maxim. Instead,
starting from our public leaders down to the hoi poloi, what we tend to do is to make sure that we get for
ourselves or our families and clan whatever is up for grabs. “Sarili muna bago ang bayan.” Isn't this complete
disregard of the common good in favor of our selfish agenda which serves as the
sturdy backbone of the poverty in many of our communities?
Becoming
a Eucharistic Community. The gospel today recounting the
multiplication of bread and fish alludes to the last supper event when Jesus
instituted the Eucharist. His four acts,
taking, blessing, breaking, and giving are common to these two events. So more
than just a recounting of Jesus’ miraculous acts of multiplication of the
bread, the gospel today is a catechesis on the Eucharist. The community that
Jesus founded is essentially a Eucharistic community. A community that gathers,
celebrates, and makes present the self-sacrificing act of Jesus at the last
supper. Jesus offered to the Father not just any bread. What He took, blessed,
broke, and gave was no longer an ordinary bread but the bread of life—his body,
his very self.
What do we have to offer? Jesus wants us to
offer even the last bread that we keep. It is little for sure. But it doesn't
matter. What matters is that we offer the little that we have for the good of
the community we belong to just as He offered himself for the sake of the many.
A Eucharistic community will always be one
that transcends self-centeredness, one whose members are willing to do some
acts of self-sacrifice... of “breaking” oneself to be “given” to others.
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