Friday, Second Week of Easter

The image of the small boy with five barley loaves and two fish in today’s gospel reading reminds me of the children who go to school with their lunch in their school bag. They carry a small amount of food to nourish them when lunch break comes along. Each child has just enough to feed himself. The small boy’s five barley loaves and two fish certainly wasn’t enough to feed the large crowd who had followed Jesus. Yet, he was prepared to hand over his small rations to Jesus and with the boy’s generous gift Jesus was able to satisfy the hunger of the crowd. The boy could not have fed the crowd on his own and Jesus could not have fed the crowd on his own either. Jesus needed the boy’s generous gift and, having received this gift, he worked with it in a way no one could have anticipated or imagined. The boy’s small fare became in the hands of Jesus a great feast for all who had gathered. Everyone in the crowd had enough to eat and there was even twelve hampers of scraps left over. The reading reminds us that if we give our resources to the Lord, small as they may seem to us, he can work with them in ways that will often surprise us. On our own we can only do so much, but if we invite the Lord to work with the little we have, then great things can happen. The little boy became poor, entrusting what he had to the Lord, and, as a result, others were enriched, just as Jesus became poor in loving service of God and others, and as a result, we were all enriched with his Spirit. Whenever we empty ourselves before the Lord, giving generously to him of our time, energy and resources, the Lord will work through us to fill and enrich the lives of others.