On most Sundays there is a woman I see walking into the
Church. It always surprises me a little. A few years ago the hospital chaplain
called me and said, “Father, come quickly, we are certain the end is near.” And
on that day a few years ago I gave the anointing of the sick, the apostolic
pardon at the hour of death, and prayed the prayers for the dying over the same
woman. I left the hospital and waited for a call about a funeral. A few weeks
later she walked into the Church. It was a miracle and I got to be part of it.
There’s a baby I see on Sundays. He, like all babies, makes
me smile. Some months ago, only hours after he was born, I baptized and later confirmed
him in the NIC-U. They didn’t think he would survive. I left the hospital and
waited for the dreaded phone call. That phone call never came and the baby
comes to Church each week. It was a miracle and I got to be part of it.
Some of those miracles are dramatic and some are more
private, like the person in the narthex who says, “I’ve been away from the
Church and today I decided to come back.” It is a miracle and I got to be part
of it.
It was a miracle and I got to be part of it. I wonder if that
is what the young boy who gave his five loaves and two fish away told his
mother at the end of the day. “Mom, it was amazing. There were five thousand
people and there was no food and I shared my lunch with a man named Jesus and
we had so much food left over. It was a miracle and I got to be part of it.”
When you think about it, the little boy was more than just
part of that miracle. If the little boy does not share his lunch with Jesus,
the feeding of the five thousand does not happen. If Andrew does not notice the
little boy who offers to share his five loaves and two fish, the miracle of the
feeding of the five thousand does not happen. If Philip does not recognize the
need for so much food on the side of the mountain, then the miracle of the
feeding of the five thousand does not happen. And if the crowd had not followed
Jesus across the Sea of Galilee, then the miracle of the feeding of the five
thousand does not happen. It was a miracle. And the little boy and Andrew and
Philip and the other disciples and each of the people in the crowd were part of
it.
They each got to be part of one of the miracles of Jesus.
They each got to see the Lord Jesus take the bread and give thanks and give it
to those who were hungry. They each got to hear the words, “Gather the
fragments, so that none will be wasted.” They each got to see the twelve wicker
baskets filled with the abundance of bread from the five loaves that were
placed in the hands of Jesus. They each got to be part of the miracle. Jesus
wanted each of them to have a part in his miracle. The little boy and Philip
and Andrew and the disciples and each person in the crowd were part of the
miracle of Jesus.
And so are we.
Jesus wants you and Jesus wants me to be part
of the miracles that he is doing. Jesus invites you and Jesus invites me to be
part of the miracles that he is doing. You might be like Philip and you
recognize what the need is and what will be needed. You might be like Andrew
and have the eyes to see the gifts in the life of child and bring that child in
prayer to the Lord Jesus. You might be like the little boy who was willing to
share the food that he had with those who had no food. You might make the
wicker baskets and gather the fragments. And we each are part of the crowd as
we are fed by the hand of the Lord Jesus.
And now, as he once did for his disciples and for the little
boy and for the five thousand on the hillside, Jesus Christ feeds you and me.
It’s a miracle and we get to be part of it. Amen.
