Homily
for July 30, 2006
Liturgical Year B - Cycle II
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. John Carney Topic:
Caring for those less fortunate
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Gospel
Jn 6:1-15
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up
on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish
feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a
large crowd was coming to him, he said 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. Philip answered him, “Two hundred
days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have
a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two
fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the
people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So
the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 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.” So they collected them, and filled twelve
wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been
more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done,
they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the
world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone. br>
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This is of course, one of Jesus’ great miracles and if you
visited the
Holy Land, no doubt you’ve been at the site where the feeding of the
multitude with the loaves and fishes occurred. It is across the sea
from Tiberius, across the Sea of Galilee. It is a beautiful hillside
and there is a beautiful church on top of it now. I’d guess it’s five,
six, or seven acres of lawn and it’s kept in an immaculate condition.
You can visualize the people reclining and eating there. In addition to
performing the miracle, having compassion on people and feeding those
that were hungry, Jesus uses this miracle as he usually does for a
number of purposes. It’s a teaching moment for the apostles and for the
people as well.
You notice that Jesus tested Philip. He said to Philip,
“Where will we
get the money to feed all these people?” Philip immediately went into
the negative mode. “It would take 200 denari, 200 days wages to give
them even a mouthful, a morsel of food.” If Philip failed the test,
Andrew passed it, for Andrew came forward with a little boy who had
five barley loaves, which was considered meager bread, peasant’s bread
and two small fish, probably sardines according to one biblical
scholar. Andrew said, “But that’s all we’ve got, so here.” That, of
course, was enough, wasn’t it? In fact, it was more than enough.
There’s not a lack of food in the world, there’s a lack of
charity. If
everyone does their small part with what little they have, God will
provide the miracle. That’s His promise. Today we know it is the
mandate of the Gospel to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to care
for those who are needy. It’s part of being a Christian. In fact,
Matthew 25 says that is the basis of judgment. “What you have done for
the least of my brothers and sisters you have done for me. What you
have not done for them you have not done for me. And those who have fed
the hungry will receive the reward in heaven and those who do not feed
the hungry will be condemned to Gahenna, to Hell.” It is important that
we do what the Gospel tells to us, to care for those who are less
fortunate.
You know, when we look at the problems of the world, what
can you do?
We’ve all had that feeling. We care. You look at the size of the
problem and you say, “What can I do?” The answer is, “very little” but
it will be enough in God’s plan. I was thinking about a great example
of this reality in Mother Teresa who has been dead nine years. It’s
hard to believe how quickly the years go. She died in 1997 at the age
of 87. She was born in, not Albania, it’s that region, it was Albania
at the time, and trained in Ireland for the Sisters of Loretto for a
few years and then went to India. She felt called by God in a special
way. She didn’t understand the call but she knew that God wanted her to
do something. She had no resources but in 1948 she received the
permission of the Sisters of Loretto to leave them and to go to
Calcutta to start some kind of ministry, again without any resources.
She realized the kids needed schooling and so she began a school and
she taught them the letters. Her school was the outdoors and she wrote
letters with a stick in the dirt. That’s how she began and when she
died 49 years later she left 600 clinics, homes for the dying,
maternity houses, homes for the poor. She left 4500 Sisters of Charity
working in a 100 countries with 500 Brothers, thousands of volunteers,
many of them full-time. She’s in 23 of the 50 United States. At least
she was in 1997. She did not have anything but what she had was that
she got the thing started and God provided the miracle.
I think there is a lesson in there for us. We won’t do the
great things
that Mother Teresa accomplished probably, maybe one young person in
here will. Who knows? However, the Gospel, ordered by Christ to do what
we can do with the little we have, mandates us. Frankly, we are not all
bad. You know that? We do care.
I have been in the parish four years now. I was working with
Deacon Don
Lucero from the time before I was assigned here. I called him up and I
had many questions. I said, “Don, what kind of people are there at
IHM?” He paused and he said, “Well, they’re odd,” he said, “but they’re
very generous.”
I, in these four years have come to agree that you are very
generous.
But frankly, you are a bit odd. You know there are so many programs
here in the parish. There is our Little Brothers and Sisters Orphanage
in Honduras that the parish sponsors. Many of you are financial
padrinos and you have actually been assigned an orphan. Your support is
significant, I am sure, to that orphanage. Each year, we send a dozen
or so of our young people to work there for a week, they come back, and
in September or October, they give their testimony. It is usually an
uplifting contribution to support the orphanage.
Each month there is the Loaves and Fishes Ministry here. We
have 53
ministries in the parish and Loaves and Fishes is one of those
ministries. Each month, these men and women prepare a meal and take it
to Santa Fe to feed the homeless. Sandwiches, they make a kettle of
soup that is just massive, they have bananas and treats, etc., and they
do that once a month.
There’s Christian Concern Committee that last year disbursed
over
$65,000 to the needy. Families come to us and we help them. More and
more we are seeing immigrant families who are passing through and they
are told that if they come to this church, they’ll be assisted and of
course, that is your work and your charity.
There are additional ministries; I don’t have my list with
me but there
are several others; what are some of the other charities that we do? In
the last eighteen months, there were two special needs: Hurricane
Katrina – you donated about $40,000 and the Tsunami – I think the
number was $20,000. So, you are good. You’re generous. Can you do more?
Well, that is the question you can answer and I can answer. My answer
is yes, I can.
I would like to assign you some homework. If you are alone
or if you
are in a family, bring this assignment home with you and think about
it. Here’s the question: What have I done to help the poor and what can
I do? What little contribution can I make to help relieve the suffering
and the burdens of others? It’s an important question for you and for
me because the answer to it becomes our eternal fate.
The hand of the Lord feeds us. He answers all our needs.