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Today's gospel offers us a
glimpse of Jesus' teaching techniques with his disciples. After a long
day of preaching and curing the sick, Jesus' disciples suggested that he
dismiss the crowds so that they could go into the neighboring villages
and buy food. Jesus told his disciples, "Give them something to eat
yourselves." Imagine the astonishment which the disciples must have
felt. There were over 5,000 people and Jesus expected the disciples to
give each of them something to eat. It never occurred to the amazed
disciples that they had some responsibility to care for this crowd of
people. In the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes
Jesus not only taught the disciples that they have an obligation to feed
the crowd, but he showed them how to feed them.
Sometimes the Lord drops us into situations that stretch our imagination
and tax our creativity in order to teach us the power of God's kingdom
in our lives.
Remember the first time
you tried to ride a two-wheel bicycle? How many times did you have to
fall off before you learned to control that bike? There might have been
moments when you thought it was hopeless. But persistence taught you
that you were able to accomplish what at the time seemed impossible.
Today we read about starving
people in Africa and Asia, or hear about drive-by shootings in our
cities; we see the victims of flooding, we may wonder, what can we do?
Most of the world’s problems seem insurmountable. This day the Lord
teaches us that our faith and his grace are sufficient to overcome any
problems which confronts us. First we need to recognize our
responsibility for one another. After that, we need to go prayerfully to
the Father and ask that through the Holy Spirit he teach us how to use
his abundant gifts to overcome the problems that surround us.
Last Sunday St. Kieran Men’s club hosted the Catholic Men of the South
Suburbs. Fr. Joe Noonan spoke about the challenge of living our vocation
of discipleship, then Bishop Perry spoke about the risks of discipleship
in our secular culture. Both talks challenged us to consider the
practical implications of following Christ in our lives.
This Friday Cardinal Francis George has asked us to join him for a
Eucharistic procession and Benediction in Grant Park. What a great way
for us Catholic men and women to stand together with our deacons,
priests, and bishops in proclaiming our faith in the real presence of
our Risen Lord in the Eucharist!
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