Sharing our loaves and fish
Sharing our loaves and fish
Miracles happen when we are open to God’s word and action. Miracles require that we offer our own loaves and fish which can be our own little contribution, our little talent and our little time for others and for God. Miracles thrive with an open soul, open to God’s will and the needs of others. Miracles happen when we believe and hope.
My transfer to St Michael’s Church is part of my own journey of being open to God’s will, as expressed through the Universal Church. It is an openness that makes me follow what my superiors require in the spirit of obedience that has brought me here twenty-four months earlier. It is an openness that supersedes personal or particular interests, no matter how important they may seem. My efforts during my rather short-lived ministry with you in strengthening our sense of community is also part of this journey of openness to God’s will. The coming of your new pastor is part of his own journey of being open to God’s will in his life.
After almost 26 years in this diocese (three years in Holy Spirit in Calgary, two years in Sacred Heart in Strathmore, fifteen years at Sacred Heart in Calgary, three at St James in Calgary and two years here at St Anthony’s), I have realized a universal sense of faith and religion. My experience in this part of the world has been a miracle in terms of giving me a wider perspective of what is true, what is Catholic and what is human.
The miracle of the multiplication of the bread and the fish was preceded by the willingness on the part of the disciples, through the boy, to offer the loaves and fish, however little. The miracle is not really about the physical satisfaction of hunger. It is about our willingness to be open to God’s will in our lives, to allow the Lord “to make us sit down”, to let God help us plan and organize our lives. It is a demonstration of God’s generosity when we are generous enough to share our own fragments left over. It is about our sense of sharing that can satisfy our very own deeper hungers. It is about our unselfishness, our own care and concern for others in their hunger and thirst. It is about our own realization of what keeps us from sharing our own loaves and fish: namely, our need for security, the sense of never having enough or our need for comfort and ease.
Miracles happen when we let go and let God in our lives, when we entrust our lives to God and let His will prevail over our own.