Sharing of the Little We Have

In yesterday and today's first readings, 1 Kings 17: 1-6 and 1 Kings 17: 7-16, we read and reflect upon the ways in which God cared for his prophet Elijah during a famine in his land.  In yesterday's reading, God directs Elijah to inform King Ahab that, at his word, there will be no dew or rain in the country for "these years."  And then the Lord directs Elijah to leave the area, saying to him: "Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there."  The brook where Elijah was hiding ran dry,  so the Lord directed Elijah to move on to "Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have designated a widow there to provide for you."   The widow he encounters is collecting sticks to make a last meager meal for herself and her son, as she only has a small amount of flour and oil. Following this meal, she and her son planned to wait to die. Elijah asked not only for a drink of water but also for a bit of bread and promised her that the "jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth."  She shares the meager means she has and, sure enough, the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the Lord had foretold through Elijah.

God took care of His/Her prophets and also takes care of you and me, of all of His/Her children.  What amazes me is the faith of Elijah and of the widow. Elijah has neither food nor water to drink and his Creator and Caregiver provides both, using both animals and a fellow human being to provide for Elijah's need. The faith of the widow is also incredible. She and her son are facing death and only have enough flour and oil to make a meager meal for themselves, much less for Elijah. Yet, she shares with the prophet, who guarantees her that her flour and her oil will not run out "until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth." And she had enough supplies for a whole year!

No matter how little we have, when we share of that little, we always have enough for ourselves!  We may think we have no energy to do one more thing and we do that one more thing and we have energy galore!  We may think we have nothing to give another person and find out that the little we give--our time, our love, our support, a smile, a greeting--is more than enough! Our willingness to give of the little we have may be all a person needs to bear the burden of  loneliness, the heaviness of depression or the  weight of acute grief. 

A God of Sufficiency

In today's first reading, 2 Kings 4: 42-44, a man brings the prophet Elisha "twenty barley loaves made from first fruits and fresh grain in the ear."  Elisha directs him to give the food to the people to eat.  How, the man objects;; I don't have enough to feed the hundred people gathered here.  "Give it to the people to eat. For thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and there shall we some left over."  Sure enough! They ate and there were leftovers. That is the kind of God who serves us and is there for us!

Jesus reveals these same attributes of God!  A huge crowd followed Jesus and the disciples across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus sees the crowd approaching and says to Philip:  "'Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?'  He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do."  In the crowd, there  was a little boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. Andrew, the brother of Peter, raised the question:  "...[W]hat good are these for so many?"  There were about 5000 men in the crowd besides women and children.  "...Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them...and also as much fish as they wanted. When they had their fill, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.'  So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with the fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat."

God is a generous God, a God of plenitude, a God of sufficiency!

How trusting are you and I, especially when we believe that we do not have enough to reach out to others in their need?  Do we believe that, with God's help, we will have what it takes to lift a burden from another person, to offer our help by assisting them financially or materially, giving of the little energy we do have,  knowing that by being there for others the little strength we have will be multiplied a "hundredfold"?  Your "two fish" or "five barley loaves" of love, of generosity, of patience goes a long way if we distribute such in faith!

A Generous, Attentive, Listening God

In today's Gospel, Mark 6: 34-44,  Jesus is concerned about a crowd of people. They are, He says, "like sheep without a shepherd.  He takes time to instruct them "in many things".  It's getting late and the disciples ask Jesus to send the crowd away so they can get something to eat for themselves in the nearby villages and farms.  Jesus challenges them to feed the crowd themselves. They wonder how the heck they are to do that without losing a day's wage. Then they notice that someone in the crowd has five loaves and two fish. He orders the 5000 men (women and children not counted) to sit down in small groups. Looking up to heaven, from where all good comes, Jesus blesses and breaks the bread and divides the fish. All are fed and there are leftovers of both commodities!

Who are you/who am I in that passage? a member of the crowd? one of the disciples who is afraid of losing a day's wage to help out those in need? one of the disciples who asks Jesus to dismiss the crowd and does not want to be bothered? Are you/am I the person with the five loaves and two fish that I need for my lunch but am willing to give them to Jesus to feed the people? Are you/am I one of the disciples who notices Jesus' generosity and is grateful or one who does not notice but participates in the meal? Are you/am I one of the disciples who listens to the Word of God and puts it in practice, following the Spirit to be of help in whatever little way I can?

Lord, help me to become more of a listening person and a doer of good for other's benefit, willing to let go and not cling to "my possessions," my time, my energy or whatever you are asking me to share with others for the common good or the good of my family/my community!

Today is the second day of a busy students' retreat. The Scripture passage that the students are reflecting upon is Mark 10: 17-22, the story of the rich young man who comes to Jesus wanting to know what more he has to do to inherit eternal life. He addresses Jesus as "good" and Jesus asks him why he addressed Him that way, as only God is good. Thus Jesus reveals his true identity to the  young man. Jesus tells him that he needs to keep all of the commandments. The young man says that he's done that all of his life. Jesus tells him that one thing is missing, namely, that he needs to sell all that he has and give the money to the poor and then come follow Him. The wealthy young man walks away sad because he prefers his wealth to following the Lord's directions, to developing an intimate relationship with the Lord and sharing "his wealth" with those less fortunate than himself.  Jesus, too, must have felt very sad, as he "was filled with love" for this man.

Every day, you and I, like this young man, are free to walk away from the Lord's invitation to "sacrifice" for a greater good, to give to "the poor" who want of our time or whose well-being depends upon our willingness to share "our riches" with them.  "Go, sell all that you want to possess exclusively for yourself alone and share with others in love and care and forgiveness. Go, sell all and give of your "wealth"--whatever that "wealth" might be--and give to "the poor, whoever those persons are in your midst today.

The faith journey

Today, I am directing a retreat at UW-River Falls, WI. The theme of the retreat is “Sometimes you have to go to Jerusalem as a Christian.”  The Scripture reading chosen for today’s reflection is 1 Kings 17: 7-16.  Drought has ravished the land. The Lord says to Elijah: “Up and go to Zarephath in Sidonia, and stay there. I have ordered a widow there to give you food.” As Elijah enters the city, he meets a widow gathering sticks to prepare a last meal for her son and herself before they die.  She is asked to share the little she has with Elijah. She is hesitant. Elijah tells her that Yahweh has promised that the “[j]ar of meal shall not be spent, the jug of oil shall not be emptied, before the day when Yahweh sends rain on the face of the earth.”  She does as Elijah suggested and, lo and behold, the “jar of meal was not spent nor the jug of oil emptied, just  as Yahweh had foretold through Elijah.”

 When you and I think we have absolutely nothing to share or  we are at the end of our rope, there are no more choices left to make, we want to give up totally or simply lie down and die, the Lord says: “Up and go. Don’t just sit here.  Don’t give up.  I have ordered so and so to meet your need, to restore you to life, but you have got to be willing to work  for it. You have got to be willing to leave your “poverty” and seek the more from those who can assist you.

The journey to fullness of life always  involves a dying, a letting go, a  giving and a receiving. If we cling to what is when what is is no longer life-giving—the well has run dry, so to speak-- if we wallow in self-pity, we will continue to feel famished, unmotivated, stuck. On the other hand,  if  we assume responsibility in “finding the widow” in relocating to another “place,” be that a physical move or a psychological/spiritual move, following  Elijah’s example, we will thrive in God’s goodness and grow in our trust of Divine Providence.  The faith journey is learning over and over again to trust God’s invitations to get “up and go to ‘Zaraphat in Sidonia’” or to give of the little we have to help others even when we think we have nothing to give.    

Wanting to be right with God!

In today’s Gospel, Mt 19: 16-22, the rich young man, who faithfully obeyed all of the commandments, approaches Jesus, wanting to know what more he has to do to gain eternal life. He, obviously, knows that something is missing but doesn’t know what. It seems that this young man is busy accumulating brownie points, if you will, keeping track of his accomplishments, checking off a list, so he can assure himself that he is doing everything right. Jesus knows that this man is attached to his riches, to his accomplishments, to his pride. “Go sell all that you have and give it to the poor,” Jesus tells this man. His riches are not only of material origin but also rooted in his pride of what he has accumulated, what he actually does own and his efforts in becoming a rightful owner: doing everything right. He lives that way also in relationship to God. He wants to know what more he has to do. Eternal life is not about what you and I have to do. It is about relationships: a personal relationship with Jesus and right relationships with one’s neighbor, especially the poor and needy. The rich young man in today’s Gospel was not willing to let go of any of his riches for the sake of the poor. He was too attached to his wealth. That is who he was. No way was he going to let go of his materials things, of his accumulated riches, to focus on relationships. Of what is God asking you and me to let go for the sake of meeting another’s need today: That person’s need to be heard, to be understood, to be affirmed, to be comforted? That person’s need for a meal, for school supplies, for whatever?

To Anyone Who Has, More Will Be Given

In today’s Gospel, Luke 8: 16-18,  is that baffling statement: “To anyone who has, more will be given and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”  That sounds so harsh. Why would those with little lose the little they have. “How fair is that?” we complain.  If we put Jesus’ words in the context of taking time to pray or reflect upon the Word of God or to do “sacred” reading—taking  5, 10, 15, 20 minutes a day to nurture our faith—the little faith we have will increase. If we do not spend any time in prayer during the day or in weekly communal worship, the little faith we have will shrink.  The same holds true concerning other gifts. Let’s say that I say to myself, “I have nothing to give” and so I give nothing. I don’t go to the wake. I don’t go to the Bible study. I don’t pitch in at the soup kitchen. I don’t take time to listen to my children or I don’t take time to help my spouse or my children—“my helping won’t matter” or whatever excuse we use.  The little we have, then, shrinks. On the other hands, if we give the little we have, if we reach out to another in compassion, though we may not know what to do or say that would be helpful, our reaching out is rewarded.  We discover how rich it was to be present and show support to another person who is hurting or how appreciative one is to whom we  offered our assistance and with whom we pitched in to help.  We may have said little or done little, so it seems, but the person is eternally grateful that we dropped by to say hello, “how are you doing” or that we cleaned up the dishes or mowed the lawn or took out the garbage without being asked.   The little we had to give—our love, our compassion, our concern, our understanding-- increased to having even more to give

Being "bread for the world"

“…the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,” we are told in today’s Gospel, Jn 6: 30-35.  To paraphrase Jesus’ words to his challengers: “The bread your ancestors ate did not come from Moses, as you believe, but from my Father.  It was not bread intended to last, however.   I am the bread of heaven sent by my Father to bring life to the world. Every human being, so to speak, in relationship to Me is like the moon in relationship to the sun. Without the sun it does not give light to the night sky. Without Me no human being is able to give life to the world. Come to Me and I will refresh you, replenish your energy, sustain your strength, uplift your drooping spirits, fill your empty “jugs” with choice “wine.”  Come to Me and I will raise you to new life every day. Come to me and I will remove that which causes you blindness and deafness of spirit. Come to Me and you will be the Stevens (see the first reading of today’s liturgy), the apostles, the Mary Magdalas, the Veronicas of this world.  Come to Me and you shall never hunger or thirst again.