“Jesus said to them, ‘There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.’” – Matthew 14:16
The great English thinker G.K. Chesterton once wrote that, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
Ever since Jesus asked a ragtag group of fishermen to follow him some 2000 years ago, His disciples have been striving – and often struggling – to embody the virtue of charity. The story in today’s Gospel reveals how unwilling the disciples were to attend to the needs of the vast crowd who had come to see Jesus. When they suggested that the crowd fend for themselves, Jesus tossed back a rather blunt challenge:
Give. Them. Some. Food. Yourselves.
They did, and miraculously the Lord multiplied their meager offering of bread and fish to feed more than 5,000 hungry people. Here we see that God’s grace perfects human nature and magnifies a simple gift hundreds of times over.
Something similar takes place in the Eucharist. Consider when, in the Our Father, we ask Him to give us our daily bread. The original Greek word translated as “daily” is epiousios, which literally means “super-substantial” or “super-natural.” Indeed, during Mass we offer God a simple wafer of bread, the “work of human hands,” and through the priest’s consecration He graciously gives His very Self back to us as the Bread of Life.
In turn, we are called to share this Bread with others. We are called to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty. We are called to clothe the naked and shelter the homeless. We are called to instruct the ignorant and comfort the afflicted.
This is why CARITAS For Children exists. We give children their daily bread, and God makes miracles happen. Imagine what He could do with your gift. Imagine what the world would be like if we all strove to live out the difficult Christian ideal of caritas.
Lord God, give us this day our daily bread, the Bread of Life. Help us to share our bread with the hungry and never cease to trust in your superabundant grace. Fill our hearts with your love, that we may bring your good news to the world and grow ever more perfect in charity. Amen.
