Reflection on the Readings

I can’t remember meeting a Christian who doesn’t appreciate the moral necessity to assist the disadvantaged by sharing resources. Not everyone follows through, of course, but at least we all admit it’s part of the package of our religious responsibility.

For some the enormity of the task is what daunts us. We are like Elisha’s servant (First Reading), objecting to the 20 barley loaves because they are not 100—or like the Apostle Andrew (Gospel), being dismissive of the boy with five loaves and two fish because his lunch pales in relationship to the needs of the crowd. We can protest that our coins are not enough—or we can, like the widow at the temple treasury, give our mite and trust that God will find it acceptable. The multiplication of the loaves is a miracle and there are two things that are clear: that we must bring what we have, and that we must trust that God will do the rest.

Mother Teresa once said of her work: “I never look at the masses as my responsibility; I look at the individual. I can only love one person at a time—just one, one, one. So you begin. I began—I picked up one person. Maybe if I didn’t pick up that person, I wouldn’t have picked up 42,000. . . . The same thing goes for you, the same thing in your family, the same thing in your church, your community. Just begin—one, one, one.”

Friends, who is the “one” that the Lord is inviting you to begin with?

Quote of the Week