Many years ago, I decided to take two of my nieces for the day. They were 7 and 5 and I thought I would give my sister a break. So, I picked them up in the morning and we did a couple of things, that afternoon I took them to a movie and then afterwards it was close enough to dinner time that I decided to treat them to Arby’s. As I reached for my wallet to pay for the food, I paused for a moment calculating everything I had spent and I had a sick feeling as I realized it was quite a bit more than I had planned on. At that moment, the seven-year-old looked up at me and reaching in her pocket pulled out all the money she had and said, “Here Uncle Paul, you can use this.”
I was immediately humbled and somewhat embarrassed by the fact that here I was worrying about how much it was costing and this child was offering me everything she had. She wasn’t worried about what it was costing her, or what she might want to use the money for instead. She simply thought I needed it and was without hesitation willing to give. I didn’t take her money, but in that moment, I think Jesus was teaching me what he was trying to teach Phillip in our gospel today. ‘You are worried about how much it may cost (200 days wages wouldn’t be enough) and this child is willing to give all that he has (five loaves and two fish).’
I’m sure that’s why John’s Gospel clearly points out that it is a child, not an adult, who is willing to make the leap of faith. Because, as adults we can live as if everything depends on us. We learn self-reliance as the means of having control over our future and we become much more guarded about taking care of ourselves. As adults, we can sometimes be so concerned with having enough, managing our resources, anticipating the unexpected, that we spend our whole life doing everything we can to insure our every need is taken care of. Some live lives of constant concern, worry or anxiety trying to guarantee that they will have everything they need or want.
Before many of us spend, we calculate what we can afford, the practicality of it and how it will affect our bottom line. This can even carry into our charitable giving when we are tempted to scrutinize how my contribution can make a difference or how deserving the need is. As adults it often seems naïve or foolish to live otherwise. And so, we often stop short of making that leap of faith. We live our lives as if it is up to me and not God to provide.
Yet the gospel calls us to live lives of joy and to share generously the many blessings God has given us to have. Like the motto I see surrounding the Church property here, ‘Joyful Living and Grateful Giving’. To walk with a childlike faith that is able to trust totally that God will provide for our every need. Sure, there are times when it may seem that we do not have enough or be without the things we want. We can face struggles and challenges, disappointments and heartbreak, illness, suffering and even death, but in all those things God is there with us, sustaining us if we have the faith to trust him.
You know, I am 68 years old and there have been times in my life when I have been fairly well off and times when I have been totally broke. Yet not a single day in these 68 years have I had to go without what I absolutely needed.
Yes, there are those who may not have enough food or have to decide between paying for medicine and paying the electric bill this month. But God provides for them through the ministries we support as a Parish. Our generosity as a parish makes possible the different ministries such as St. Vincent DePaul and Catholic Charities. Even the smallest sacrifices of generosity can make it possible for God to feed a multitude of people. But God doesn’t stop there.
In this parish there are a number of ministries which seek to respond to the needs of one another and our community. We are called to live joyfully our faith as we come together, realizing that we do not do it alone. We are called to recognize the hunger in our midst. Those who hunger to serve or to find spiritual meaning in their lives, those who hunger for community and emotional support, our children who hunger for learning and a safe place to be active. Our youth who hunger for meaning and purpose in their lives. The despairing who hunger for hope, the grieving who hunger for consolation and healing. The sick who hunger for healing, the homebound who hunger for connection and the lost who hunger to be found. We are called, like the boy in the Gospel, to make the leap of faith that if each of us shares generously the gifts we have to offer, God can supply the rest and our needs will be satisfied in abundance.
The Good News is that we are not called to make this ‘leap of faith’ alone. We do it together as the living Body of Christ. We are called together to form community and break open the Word of God so that we can remember the promise of God’s love and mercy for us. We are united with Him, who is our Lord, at this table as we celebrate the Eucharist. The generosity of God’s unconditional love poured out and given to us in Christ’s Body and Blood, that we may be fed in abundance and given to share His love poured out for all people. For when Jesus knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying for the strength to give Himself up totally for our sake, He didn’t calculate if He could afford to do it or if we, 2000 years later, would be grateful or worthy of such sacrifice. He did it out of Unconditional Love for us, that we might know there are no limits to God’s love for us. And so, as members of the living Body of Christ, we are called to give of ourselves in the service of caring for the needs of one another. We are called to participate in the fulfillment of God’s promise. We are called to make that ‘leap of faith’ and know that if we trust in God, we shall not want.