A boy gets his lunch left-over boxed up to take home. As he leaves the restaurant he ignores an old man begging. Feeling a sudden guilt, he gives him some coins. “How about the box, I’m hungry?” the old man begs. To part with his burger isn’t that easy, but compassion prevails. The boy gives it to the poor old man who smiles with gratitude.
In the gospel a boy gives his lunch to Jesus, which allows Jesus to do something extra-ordinary – feeding the crowd. This miracle is repeated at the Last Supper and at every Mass where Jesus gives Himself and makes us sharers in his body and blood. St. Ignatius of Antioch calls this “one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ.” This food unites us intimately with Jesus and heals us, body and soul. It gives us strength for our spiritual journey. Do we hunger always for this bread of life?
The feeding of the crowd demonstrates God’s kindness to us. He gives generously. He gives more than we need so that we may also share with others, especially the most deprived. God multiplies the little that we have, like the boy’s lunch, for the good of others. Do we trust in God’s provision for us? Do we share freely with the poor? Jesus is still looking for simple people, like you and me, who are willing to make selfless sacrifices that He may convert small love offerings into His glory. May our hearts be open to such kindness and generosity!
Lord, satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts and feed us with the finest food!
Brothers and sisters, generosity makes us joyfully share our God-given gifts with others. Amen.
As the national election is coming, we can even see now of tarpaulins, photos and videos of aspiring candidates posting their best quotes, achievements, and helping-hand photo opts. Are they doing these as sincere actions to serve the country selflessly without any intention to advance their personal agenda? Maybe yes or maybe not.
However, publishing ones achievements and good works can become self-serving especially if the intention is for our personal interest. In such manner, the object of our good works would only become instruments to seek praise and recognition from people. This is not a true act of generosity and service then, but comes from a heart filled with insecurity and selfishness.
The action of seeking praise and recognition reminds me of today’s Gospel and on how Jesus brought to our awareness the tendency to be image-conscious but insecure.
Jesus reminds his disciples not to become hypocrites who merely wanted to win the praise of others. Jesus criticized people who showed such attitude because of their growing indifference to the poor but swelling self-centeredness. By seeking attention from people, their vain and explicit forms of devotion were totally a mere show for people to see. They wanted people to praise them, to recognize how good, religious and respectable they were. They were seeking fame and power over the people yet, they became hungry for attention. It was as if their good and best self-image was all that matters. Hence, they became pompous and arrogant.
We might not be far from this. We have to be careful when we become anxious and insecure of ourselves. These attitudes will make us image-conscious and we will tend to keep things for ourselves alone. This will make us vain, arrogant, pretentious and selfish who only gives to gain more.
That is why, St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, reminds the Christians to be generous enough. St. Paul writes, “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” This attitude of generosity comes from the confidence in God who is first generous to us. God’s generosity abounds and endures forever.
Growing in that confidence makes us more secured and assured on what we have today and at this very moment. This is the very spirit that dwell in a cheerful giver that St. Paul tells us in his letter. Indeed, God loves a cheerful giver because God sees Himself in the person. God is the first one who cheerfully gives graces to us. And when we also learn that kind of attitude in God, then, God sees Himself in us.
Certainly, when we also realize how blessed we are, that we too grow in our gratitude to the Lord. It is essential for us to accept and appreciate the graces given to us. They may include not just the material things that we possessed but also our relationships, people who are there to love and support us, the gift of our person, our talents and abilities.
Jesus invites us today that as we recognize truly the good things in us and the blessings that we have, we are called to expressed freely and generously what we have received. No need for boasting the good that we have done because the Father sees everything and is delighted with us.
In this way, we avoid the tendency to be self-serving and greedy, who would always seek for more attention, recognition, praise, and entitlements from others. This will keep us away from becoming the unhappiest person for being a hypocrite.
Hopefully, through this invitation, it will mold us to become grateful persons and cheerful givers, loved by the Lord. May our generosity express the cheerfulness in giving and in sharing our life. Hinaut pa.
Why do people who tend to complain a lot, find life miserable? Why do people who love to keep things only for themselves always feel unsatisfied?
When we tend to complain a lot then we only see the ugly, the mistakes, the failures and the not so nice in life . We find life miserable because we believe that life is so unfair to us. Hence, no matter how provided we are by our parents, or no matter how much wealth we have possessed, and no matter how many achievements we have succeeded, when we only see the ugly in us and in others, life will be miserable.
When we also keep things for ourselves only, then, this tells us how insecure we have become. We shall only recognize what we do not have and do not see what we already have. Thus, we will always feel unsatisfied because our tendency to keep things for ourselves will remove us from the confidence of being graced and being gifted.
If we have developed one or these two attitudes, then, we are missing many things in life. St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians recounts to us today the grace of God received in the churches of Macedonia. Macedonia, a Greek territory, had been subjected to many trials and affliction. However, Paul recognized that despite those and their profound poverty, the Christians in Macedonia were filled with abundant joy. Within that joy was an overflowing wealth of generosity on their part.
Paul happily tells us that through their joy expressed by their generous heart, then, they offered their lives to the Lord and to the Apostles for the sake of the Gospel.
Such wealth of generosity has been my experience in a small Christian community in Talisay, Balabagan, LdS during our 3-month long mission.
Such attitude by the first Christians in Macedonia tells us today that we can remain contented, happy and filled with joy in life despite the afflictions, the poverty and the sickness that we are suffering at this moment. This was the spirit behind the Macedonians because they recognized and were fully aware of the grace of God in their life.
They very presence of the Apostles and the gift of faith were enough reasons of becoming conscious and confident in God’s loving and faithful presence. Consequently, that joy in their heart made them generous. Despite their poverty, there was an overflowing wealth of generosity, an expression of true joy.
This is God’s invitation for us today. We are called to become more conscious of God’s grace, of God’s loving and faithful presence to us. In that awareness, we may grow in our confidence with God and be filled with joy in our heart even when we are suffering and poor. May it lead us to become generous in our words and actions even to the extent of loving our enemies and praying for those who have hurt us, persecuted us and insulted us for the sake of their conversion and peace. Hinaut pa.
When it comes to giving and offering to God, do you take a clenched hand or an open hand?
We all have different attitude or take on the call of generosity. Some are loose and generous; others are tight and stingy. Some give from their surplus; others from the meager they have. Some give gladly, while others grudgingly.
Allow me to reflect on our first reading from the Book of Genesis, particularly because it has provided us two (2) models of giving to ponder on ourselves:
The first model is that of Abel. Abel is a shepherd, and he brings the best firstlings of his livestock and some fat as well and offer them to Lord;
The other model is that of Cain. Cain is a farmer, who brings the fruits of the soil as an offering to Lord.
Now let us pay close attention to the Lord’s response to their individual offerings? “Now Yahweh was well pleased – ‘looked with favor’ – on Abel and his offering, but towards Cain and his offering he showed no pleasure.”
What’s wrong? What’s the difference?
Yes, both have offered to the Lord. However the Lord was so pleased or delighted with Abel and his sacrificial offering because Abel did the right thing by giving or offering what the Lord so deserved. He gave the best and choiced portions of his produced. Not the surplus nor the least.
But with Cain, the Lord was displeased because Cain was very reluctant in offering what was due to the Lord.
Today, God has given us one of the secrets of living a blessed and full life, that is by way of giving God generously: from the best and the choiced portion of our produce. For He is able to multiply our blessings beyond human estimation.
And so, when it’s time to give, “Let not your hand be open to receive and clenched when it is time to give. (Sir. 4:31.)”
My heart is moved with pity. The words of Jesus must have been ringing into the ears and hearts of his disciples. God is moved. God feels our pain. God feels the emptiness and longing of our hearts. The Book of Prophet Isaiah tells us about this too, “The Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces.” God shall take away our pain and sadness. Again, on this first week of Advent, we take comfort in this promise of God who is with us. The journey of this Advent is to make our heart and mind more confident in God, to be more assured of God’s abiding presence in us.
Hence, the Gospel of Matthew reminds us how Jesus attended, welcomed and healed those crowds who brought the heaviness and hungers of their hearts and different illnesses to him. Jesus cured and satisfied them all. He made the mute speak, the deformed whole, the lame walk, and the blind see.
Moreover, Jesus wanted his disciples to be also moved with pity. Jesus wanted that the hearts of his disciples will also experience the power of being moved by others. To be moved with pity allows us to feel the heart of another. This allows us to understand them, to be in solidarity with them and to journey with them. Such solidarity will lead us into healing and freedom, which is the very experience of those people healed and freed by Jesus.
This means that the journey towards healing, freedom and fullness of life is not achieved when we are alone. It cannot be achieved when we distance ourselves from our friends and family, our community, and from the Church.
That is why, as the heart of Jesus was moved with pity, he too asked his disciples to participate and join with him. His question, “How may loaves do you have?” must have been a question with a deeper meaning. Jesus was not just asking about the number of the physical loaves of bread, but also the availability of the hearts and presence of the disciples. Indeed, that question meant more than loaves.
The disciples responded not just with seven loaves, but also with few fish. This food was all they had, yet, God asked everything. And they all gave them up for others. It must not be easy to give up all you have for the sake of others. That food, if one would think, would not have been enough just for the 13 of them. How could that little they have, feed hundreds of people?
We usually think for ourselves and prioritize our own needs. However, the disciples, out of obedience to Christ, gave everything they had at that moment for the sake of those in need at that moment. This was the beginning of the wonder and amazement.
Those seven loaves and few fish given out of generosity and obedience to Christ were blessed, given thanks, and broken. Those were distributed to all of those who were hungry, to satisfy them and fill their emptiness. Yet, what was blessed, given thanks and broken and was shared became abundant before the eyes of the disciples. As people partake with their bread and fish, people were satisfied and there was more than enough. This was how they collected the left-over that filled seven baskets. The number of fullness.
What had been satisfied were not just those who were hungry but also the givers. Indeed, the journey taken by the disciples to fill the hunger and emptiness of the people became their own journey also to experience both physical and spiritual satisfaction and fullness of life with the people and with the Lord.
Today, Jesus also invites us to be moved with pity that with him and with the disciples, we too shall bring out those little things that we have, and to offer them to God so that many will be able to receive. We shall see the wonder, then, when the small or little things from us are given generously because we will surely be able to respond to the different forms of hungers around us. Hunger is not just limited with physical hunger for food but also for love, for affection, for justice and for peace.
The symbol of seven loaves and few small fish are not just limited with material possessions that we have. These also include our talents, capacities, expertise, our time and effort, our presence and our very person.
While the Lord assures us and promises satisfaction from our own hungers in life, hopefully, we too will be like his disciples who became instruments of satisfying not just ourselves, but also our brothers and sisters. Hinaut pa.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 