Finding The Resources We Need


July 3O * Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time


€ Two hundred days' wages worth of food
would not be enough for each of them to have a little.
John 6:7

Our imaginations are too often limited by logic. As soon as a dream sparks into our consciousness, we tend to find cogent reasons for not pursuing it-not enough time, not enough money, not enough security. God presents an opportunity, and our response, more often than not, is to see insufficiency. Instead of committing ourselves to the dream, we settle for what seems more practical. The star that beckons is too far, the mountain waiting to be climbed is too high, the hungers of the world are too many.

The multiplication of the loaves and fishes demonstrates that grace is not bound by either logic or arithmetic. On perceiving a human need, Jesus does not resort to mathematical calculations to see if he can afford to feed the hungry; rather, he acts decisively, ignoring the seeming discrepancy between the number of people involved and the fragments of food available. In his presence, scarcity becomes abundance; when we turn to him in our own situations of want, we, too, will find all the resources we need to follow God's call.

May your peace flow among us like a life-giving river, 0 Lord.

Elizabeth-Anne Stewart



2 Kings 4:42-44 9 Psalm 145:10-11,15-18
Ephesians 4:1-6 * John 6:1-15