Is 55:1-3 / Rom 8:35, 37-39 / Mt 14:13-21
There was pastor who used his computer to create a personalized printed program for every Baptism. To make each one special, he’d use the computer’s “search & replace” function to find the name of the last baby baptized and then replace it with the next baby’s name. So one Saturday evening, the priest told his computer to find the name “Mary,” last week’s baby, and to replace it with “Edna,” the next day’s baby. Next morning, everything went smoothly till the congregation reached the Apostles’ Creed and found themselves saying, “…And we believe in Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Edna…”
So often our best intentions go awry, and before we get very old, the reality of our personal limitations becomes painfully clear. The Apostles in Sunday’s gospel knew their limits only too well, especially when they stood next to Jesus. So when Jesus looked at the crowd of about 15,000 and told the Apostles to feed the people, they were truly abashed.
“We have no money, and only five loaves and two fish! What can we do?”
“Bring them to me,” said Jesus, who blessed the little basket of food and then gave it back to the apostles. “Now,” He said. “Feed them!” And they did. As they broke off pieces of bread and gave them away, somehow, there was still something there — just enough for the next hungry person, and then the next, and the next….
Eventually, we all have to face challenges that seem utterly beyond us: salvaging a dead business, breathing life into a soured marriage, walking with a troubled teen who doesn’t want anyone near them, standing helplessly at the side of a dying friend. And we feel like those Apostles, trying to feed 15,000 with five loaves. “It can’t be done!” we say. And we’re right, if we’re trying to do it on our own. But we don’t have to do it alone. That’s the whole point of Jesus becoming one of us. He came not just to talk to us, but to walk with us, and to make the impossible possible for us. Remember what St. Paul says about this very thing: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.”
We can do what’s needed, even if the task seems utterly beyond us, if we put ourselves in the Lord’s hands, just as the Apostles put that little basket of food in Jesus’ hands. Flawed and weak as we are, the Lord can make us enough, just enough, for the work He’s asked us to do.
So look hard at the work that God has given you at this time in your life. Don’t run away from it. Name it, accept it, and then put your whole self in God’s hands. You’ll be amazed at what He can do with you, if He has full possession of your heart and your hands. The impossible will become possible!
