Seventeenth of Year B
July 2009
The theme today is celebrating what we have in common.
As we have just heard in the second reading; we have ‘one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.’
Just as a family’s sharing their meals together is the great sign of their unity as a family, so also for us, the sharing of the one bread and the one cup in the Eucharist is the great sign of our unity as the family of God.
As I mentioned last week when talking about the Bible, in today’s first reading and in today’s gospel we look for the message contained in the stories rather than at the stories themselves. It is largely irrelevant whether, or how, so many people were fed with so little food with more left over than they started with. The message is that by sharing with and helping each other as the one family of God there is more than enough of everything for all our needs.
The problem is, of course, that we all want much more than we need. This is one of the effects of Original sin.
If I live in the so called ‘Third World’ and get to know people well, I am initially horrified by so much poverty and deprivation. Slowly I begin to wonder how people can be content while possessing so little.
When I was growing up in Ireland everyone struggled to make ends meet.
Nevertheless we were content with life and with what we had.
Problems arise when those who are better off parade their status.
Jealousy and envy creeps in and the sense of contentment evaporates. From then on it is the treadmill of ‘keeping up with the Joneses.’
In Africa I used to shudder at the insensitivity of tourists towards the feelings of the local people. Parading around with cameras, and other very expensive possessions worth far more than a lifetime’s salary for local people or handing out what was for the locals huge sums of money to take photos of them; sums which were a pittance to the tourists.
So not only does our status as children of God prompt us to share our good fortune but also to be sensitive about parading our good fortune.
As we get older and our bones stiffen the fortunate among us may begin to wonder what on earth we can do with the assets we have stored up ‘for the rainy day.’ As the years go by these assets can turn into so much baggage that realistically I have no need of.
Yet I cling to them. I justify this by telling myself that I worked hard to gain them or I am holding them in trust for my children or grandchildren.
Yet most of us did ok without being left a bundle by parents or grand parents.
So, when I share the one cup and the one bread as one family in the Eucharist, thinking about the wider implications of this sharing may be upsetting but fruitful.
A man died and went to Heaven. At the gates he was met and welcomed by St. Peter who then assigned one of the attendant Angels to show him to his quarters. He was led down a very long street paved in gold past mansion after mansion on either side. As they progressed the mansions became smaller until they were only houses and the houses became cottages, then cabins, huts, shacks and eventually hovels. By now the street was only a dirt track. The Angel opened the door of one of the hovels and ushered the man inside. He protested to the Angel and demanded one of the mansions further up the street which were as yet unoccupied.
‘Sorry,’ said the Angel, ‘we did the best we could with the money you sent us.’