Your Five Loaves And Two Fish Can Multiply 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, July 25, 2021

The story of the feeding of five thousand is one of the beloved stories in the New Testament. Its belovedness is attested, affirmed, and proven by the fact that it can be found in all the four gospels. For the event to appear in all four gospels indicates it really struck a cord for the early Christians. It also explains its centrality in the gospels, in our tradition, for artists, poets, and preachers. John’s own narrative precedes the Eucharistic discourse where Jesus insists that his flesh is the real food, and his blood the real drink, and that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (John 6:53). 

Today’s Gospel (John 6:1-15) tells us that Jesus goes up on the mountain, and is surrounded by his disciples. When he looks up, he sees a large hungry crowd coming to him and immediately asks Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” Rather than answer the question, Philip points out that the totality of money a person makes from working for more than half a year cannot buy enough food for everyone to have a little. Andrew recalls, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;” and immediately adds, “but what good are these for so many?" Jesus directs them to organize the people. After that, Jesus takes the bread and fish, gives thanks and distributes them to the people. Everyone eats to their satisfaction, and there are leftovers large enough to fill twelve wicker baskets. The miracle prompts the people to exclaim, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” 

Sisters and brothers, this miracle is not a buffet, rather a demonstration of Jesus’ compassion for the hungry, the weak and the fed up. When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he saw their fatigue, their weariness, and their need for material food. As a good shepherd, he began to make plans to feed them. Why? Because he felt their lack and made it his own lack. He did not see their problem as their problem. He recognized that in the communion of the Kingdom of God, we bear each other’s burden in love. We don’t say, “That’s your problem.” Rather, it is our problem. We don’t say “It is your joy and I am jealous of it,”rather It is our joy. We are in this together! 

Sometimes when I hear people say, ‘This is what the church should do,” “somebody should take care of this…” I groan because the things I hear people say that the church should do are actually things they should do or things they can join hands in doing. Vatican II says that we are the Church. We are the people of God. That means there is a responsibility for each one of us. Jesus saw a need, did not wait for someone else to do it, rather he jumped into and did it. That’s what we should do. Stop complaining that such and such should be done by someone. If you are able to do it, get on with it. St. Thomas Aquinas said that God loves dispensing his providence through secondary causes. What does that mean? It means that God gives us the privilege of participating in his own providence. God wants us to do something on his behalf. He wants us to take the step needed to solve a problem. 

In the principle of see, judge, and act, we are urged to open our eyes to what’s going on in the society and in the Church, judge it, make a decision, and then act! When Jesus asked Philip where they can buy bread for the people to eat, what did Philip see? Impossibility! Even Andrew who recalled the presence of a boy with five loaves and two fish doubted the possibility of feeding the mammoth crowd with that. Like Philip, Andrew also saw impossibility. But before this time, Jesus had performed great acts of miracles— turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana, healing the dying son of a royal official, healing the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. In spite of all these, Philip and Andrew did not see possibility with Jesus.

The spiritual lesson for us is to give whatever we have to Jesus even if it is very little. The Lord himself will multiply it. Give Jesus your mind, your will, your energy, your compassion, even if they are small, even if it is only you and a couple of friends, you will be amazed when the whole thing becomes multiplied for God’s own purposes. Jesus wants us to cooperate with him, and we can do it by giving even the little we have. When we do, we will be surprised by what the Lord can do with it and what effect it has in the world. The greediest thing we can do is to hang on to the little we have and then say to the rest to attend to it themselves. 

You know, every movement in the Church began small, it began with five loaves and a couple of fish. Think about Francis of Assisi. To him God says, “Francis, rebuild my Church.” So he goes, finds a church near to his hometown, Assisi, and begins literally to rebuild it with his own hands. People were so impressed by his witness, by his life, by his and simplicity, and then joined in rebuilding the church. They formed themselves into a little band, and then gets approved to be a religious order. With time, it grows and grows and grows. Now, it is everywhere in the world, and has done enormous good for Christ and his Church. Where does it start? It starts with one man giving the little he had, the little of his imagination, energy, mind and time to Jesus, and then the Lord multiplied it over and over and now it feeds the world. Think about Ignatius of Loyola back in the 16th century. Gathering with a handful of friends whom he met in Paris, they formed a little company, the company of Jesus. They dedicated themselves to prayer, and doing what the Church needs. That little company overtime and through grace grew into a great Society of Jesus as a religious order, which also covers the world. It has established great institutions and foundations all over the world for the benefit of Christ and his Church. But it started with five loaves and two fish generously offered to Jesus. Think about Mother Teresa. In her 30’s she left the relative comfort of a high school she was teaching, walked into the worst slum of the world, and began caring for those who were dying. What if someone had said to her, “Someone has to do something about this crisis in Calcutta,” and she replied, “Who am I to address it?” But she didn’t say that. She went there and began to care for the dying. Shortly, she was joined by her former students and then by friends and admirers. Now, the Missionaries of Charity, the Order she founded covers the world and is serving the world and Christ’s Church. Think about St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori. After a successful career in law, he offered himself as a novice to the oratory of St. Philip Neri with intention of becoming a priest. Although his father was vehemently opposed to his plan of becoming a priest, the young Alphonsus insisted. At age of 30, he was ordained a priest. For the first five years as a priest, he lived with the homeless and marginalized youth of Naples. Later, he founded the Evening Chapels, which were managed by the young people themselves. The chapels were centers of prayer and piety, preaching, community, social activities and education. Eventually he founded a religious order— Redemptorists, which is also found all over the world. 

The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It begins very small but with time it grows into a great tree and birds of the earth make their nests in it. The Kingdom of God is like a boy giving five loaves and two fish to Jesus Christ and then watching that grow into enormous power. Give the little you have and the Lord will multiply it to feed a multitude.