BRIDGES NOT CLIQUES

Wednesday of the 1st Week of Advent
Mt 15:29-37

Jesus felt sorry for the crowd that followed Him wherever He went. He felt sorry for the people because they were with Him for three days and had nothing to eat. Nothing to eat? Well, not all the people because His close circle has seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. Okay, so not all the people were to die of starvation. Only a majority of them! What?!

Does belonging to the “close circle” of Jesus make us think we are a special breed? Does it make us live as if we are exempted from being hungry while the rest starve? Does it make us feel good to lavish on God’s blessings while the “outsiders” languish? Does it make us justify why we should reserve and keep the little we have while the majority has nothing at all?

Jesus, feeling sorry, for the “outsiders”, asks us today, “What do you have?” Do we dare hide from Him what we keep under our sleeves? Or do we say, “Seven loaves and a few small fish.”

I believe in miracles; and they all begin with an act of love. Bringing out our seven loaves and few small fish is an act of love. Sharing with others even the too little we have is loving in action. Miracles happen when we love. We do miracles not only when we believe, but more so when we love.

Jesus teaches us, His disciples, an important lesson today. We are called to belong to His “inner circle” not to exclude the others but to be bridges between Him and the rest. We are called to be channels of His graces, instruments of His blessings, doers of His miracles. Yes, even with our seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, to be blessings ourselves.

Let us not only be sorry for the people’s hunger. Let us do something. Let us share and turn Jesus’ feeling sorry into Jesus’ doing another miracle through us.