Friday of the Second Week of Easter
We were blessed to welcome our newest child, Cecilia Ann, to our family almost 8 weeks ago now. Following her birth and arrival home with us a few days later, several friends and colleagues worked together to provide dinner for us a few nights a week as we learned how to be parents of four children. What a blessing! Providing a simple meal for supper was so powerful. Many of those who contributed saw it as a small act of kindness; no big deal; happy to help. Being on the receiving end of this love and support, it does not feel at all small or minor. Our community came together and made a big impact on our little family.
One of my favorite phrases attributed to St. Teresa of Calcutta states, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” In today’s Gospel, there was a boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. But the apostle logically asked, what good does such a small offering do when they had thousands of people to feed? We, of course, know the rest of the story; never underestimate the power of God’s grace. Jesus does his thing and they end up with more than they started with--twelve wicker baskets. The boy in the gospel was making what we perceived to be a small gesture, just trying to help out, do his part. What an amazing act of discipleship!!! The people were hungry; this boy didn’t have much but he was going to try to help. Christ’s response: Oh yeah, I can work with that.
How often do we feel like what we have to offer is meager? Yet, God takes our minor contributions and does amazing things with them. That is the beauty of Catholicism; we are all part of the body of Christ. Each of us has gifts to offer this world. We have a niece and nephew preparing to receive the sacrament of Confirmation tomorrow. As I reflect on this next step in their faith journey in conjunction with our gospel today, I am brought back to the Christian call to discipleship. Confirmation is a big step. It is an opportunity to say “YES!” to our faith. It calls on us to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Every time we celebrate mass, we are sent forth to live the gospels, to love and serve the Lord by our very lives--in big and small ways. Christ sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples to give them the gifts to share the good news. We are commissioned to do the same. We are called to be disciples, to be saints, to be the love of Christ to others. We are called to holiness. And this often means that we offer small gestures, we do little things for people, we give what we can, where we can to support others, to be the light of Christ. Because, you know what? God is going to take that small offering and make a big impact with it.
Blessings,
Brandon Meyer