24-Jul-2011 Dear Friend,
All of us have received gifts at one time or another! Gifts become special when they are not expected and undeserved. We are deeply touched by generous gifts given without counting the cost. Yet in the daily routine of life, where business counts, we can become calculating and look for profit. Our God never counts the cost, he gives and gives! Let's be like God, generous givers! Have a 'thank-by-giving' weekend! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: Eighteenth Sunday of the Year -"Be filled at the banquet of life and love!" 31-Jul-2011 Isaiah 55: 1-3 Romans 8: 35, 37-39 Matthew 14: 13-21 In today's first reading Isaiah invites all the Israelites to come to a banquet. In exile the Israelites experienced hunger and they had nothing that could satisfy their needs. When we are hungry or thirsty all we can think of is the next meal and where it will come from. To these needy people Isaiah said: "You who have no money, come receive grain and eat." This was an invitation to the people of Israel, returning from exile to participate in God's love. Often the Old Testament uses the image of eating and drinking together as a sign of God's covenant, the testament of his loving generosity that keeps nourishing His people. Generosity makes us concerned people, caring people, compassionate people, Godly people. Loving Generosity Time before time, when the world was young, two brothers shared a field and a mill. Each night they divided evenly the grain they had ground together during the day. Now, one of the brothers lived alone; the other had a wife and a large family. One day the single brother thought to himself: "It isn't really fair that we divide the grain equally. I have only myself to care for, but my brother has children to feed." So each night he secretly took some of his grain to his brother's granary to see that he was never without. But the married brother said to himself one day, "It isn't fair that we should divide the grain equally, because I have children to provide for me in my old age, but my brother has no one. What will he do when he is old?" So every night he secretly took some of his grain to his brother's granary. As a result, both of them always found their supply of grain mysteriously replenished each morning. Then one night the brothers meeting each other halfway between their two houses, suddenly realized what had been happening and embraced each other in love. The story is that God witnessed their meeting and proclaimed, "This is a holy place - a place of love- and here it is that my temple shall be built." And so it was. The holy place, where God is made known, is where human beings discover each other in love. Wilkie Au in 'The Way of the Heart' In today's gospel the miracle of the loaves and the fishes is told in the style of the Eucharistic liturgy. "Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looking up to heaven, blessed and broke them and gave the loaves to his disciples, who in turn gave them to the people." At the beginning of the story Matthew tells us that Jesus took pity on the people and was moved with compassion on them. Miracles happen when we move beyond concern to action, when we feel deeply within us the hurts and pains of others. Concern is the cold voice of the logical brain whereas compassion is the warm language of the heart and gut. Jesus had compassion on the crowd and healed the sick. And then when he challenged his disciples to share the hunger of the people, a miracle of compassion took place. Even if a few people have compassion miracles can take place. We who enjoy the goodness and generosity of the Lord have the responsibility of sharing and distributing God's love and compassion to others. The celebration in Church would be empty if God's love, which is experienced there, is not carried out into the streets beyond the church door. Caring and Sharing It happened in Christ's time and it has happened often since. When Jesus asked the disciples to feed the hungry crowd, their first reaction was to point out the difficulties. The little food they had would make so little difference to the throngs and there was no point in even making a start. Their answer was to send the people away and to let others care for them. Jesus would not accept that viewpoint. He prodded them into sharing even the little they had and he multiplied it a thousand fold. These first disciples were paralyzed by the apparent hopelessness of the situation. They saw only the difficulties, whereas Jesus was opening up an opportunity. Today's gospel is a call to be especially aware of the little opportunities where we can enrich even one of our brothers and sisters and to realize that God will bless our efforts beyond all our expectations. Trust him and let him prod you into action. Tom Clancy in 'Living the Word' Little in his hands becomes much A villager, along with his wife, came to the city and entered a hotel. He stood in the lobby of the hotel and watched people moving up and down in the elevator. He had never seen an elevator in his life. He watched an old lady entering the elevator and after closing the door, she went up. The villager stood and watched the elevator wondering what the old lady was doing inside that small room. After some time, when the elevator opened, he was surprised to notice a beautiful young lady coming out of the elevator. Oh! He wondered what a wonderful machine this is - an old lady gets in and within minutes she is transformed into a beautiful young lady. He wished that his wife should also become as young as this lady. Therefore, he held his wife by her hand started pushing her towards the elevator. -I do not know if the elevator was a wonderful machine, but certainly the hands of Jesus are wonderful. He may receive a little from our hands, but when he returns it to us, it is always abundance. John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies' Multiplying Loaves An elderly woman lived in one half of a duplex apartment. She was extremely poor, but a good woman. She prayed a great deal. In the other half of the duplex lived the owner, a man of no faith, no prayer, and no religion. He often made fun of the old lady's trust in God. One day this woman was praying, quite loudly, telling the Lord that she had no food in the house. The godless one heard her and decided: "I'm going to play a trick on the old gal." He took a loaf of bread, laid it at her front door, rang the bell, and then hurried back to his apartment, to hear through the wall her cry of delight: "Thank you, Lord, I just knew you wouldn't fail me." With a devilish grin the man came back to her front door and told her: "You silly old woman. You think God answered your prayer. Well, I'm the one who brought that loaf of bread." Undaunted, the old woman exclaimed: "Praise the Lord! He always helps me in my needs, even if He has to use the devil to answer my prayers." -When have we last come to the aid of someone in need? Gerard Fuller in 'Stories for all Seasons' God multiplies our 'more' A canon-ball injury had the young soldier, Ignatius of Loyola convalescing in hospital filled with desires of serving the Spanish king and winning over some damsel of his dreams. However, in the absence of novels in the hospital, Ignatius was forced to read the 'Lives of saints'. He thought, "If the saints could do so much for Jesus, could I not do something similar?" Thus, his thoughts were transferred from serving the Spanish king to serving the Eternal King, Jesus, and from winning the hand of some woman to handing over his weapons to the Mother at Montserrat, vowing to serve her son, Jesus. Throughout Ignatius's life, he was filled with a military-like passion to do 'more', be 'more' and give 'more' - all for the greater glory of God. -Can we not do more for God and our brothers and sisters? Francis Gonsalves in 'Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds' You can make a difference! God has set up the world in such a way that the action of an individual is important. Let me try to illustrate this point more graphically with a humorous story. Newspaper columnist Art Buchwald once wrote about a friend in New York City. Let's call his friend Oscar. One day Art and Oscar were getting out of a taxi. As they did, Oscar said to the driver, "You did a superb job of driving." The cabbie looked at him and said, "What are you? A wise guy?" "Not at all," said Oscar. "I really mean it. I admire the way you moved about in traffic." "Yeah, sure," said the cabbie and he drove off. "What was that all about?" asked Art. "I'm trying to bring love back to New York," Oscar replied. "How can you do that?" said Art. "Take that cabbie," said Oscar. "I think I made his day. Let's suppose he has 20 fares today. He's going to be nice to those 20 people. They, in turn, will be kinder to other people. Eventually, the kindness could spread to a thousand people." "You're developing into a nut," Art said. Just then they passed a construction site. It was noon, and the workers were eating. Oscar walked up to a group of them and said, "That's a magnificent job you men are doing." The workers eyed Oscar suspiciously. "When will it be finished?"Oscar asked. "June", grunted one of the hard-hats. "That's great," said Oscar. "It is going to be a splendid addition to the city." As they continued their walk, Art said to Oscar, "Boy, I haven't seen anyone like you since The Man of La Mancha." "That's okay," said Oscar, "You can joke. But when those men digest my words, they will be better for it." "But even if they are better for it, you're still only one man," said Art. "And one person can't change New York City." "Yes he can," said Oscar. "The big thing is not to get discouraged. Bringing back love to New York is not easy. But if I can get other people to join me in my campaign….. "Hey!" Art interrupted. "You just winked at a very ugly woman." "I know I did," said Oscar. "And if she is a schoolteacher, her class is in for a fantastic day." Buchwald never tips his hand in the article. We don't know whether he is serious, half serious, or just spoofing. Some readers believe he was more serious than we might think. Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies' May we make a difference to life by what we give to others! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site www.netforlife. net Thank you.
