January 8
Our breads and our fishes
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late. Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out they said, “Five loaves and two fish.” So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass.The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties. Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to (his) disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. Those who ate (of the loaves) were five thousand men. Mk 6,34-44
The Christmas celebrations are over and we resume our normal commitments. The important events which we have recently celebrated have been originated by the “yes“ of Mary, by her answer to the archangel Gabriel, whereas she married, without conditions , the plan of God over her. Thinking to the simple request which the Lord addresses to us every day and to the small answers of faithfulness which we are called to give, we realize to live in another spiritual dimension compared with the one of Mary. We can only appreciate the greatness of her “yes” and we can ask to her that a ray of her availability to receive the will of the Lord in the life of the men can lay down also on us. The dimension of those disciples who make available their five breads and two fishes is closer to us. They are persons of good will as I think we are too. However, also in this case the Lord made a great miracle by starting from their small “yes”: they offered all they had. Let’s make, today, a commitment: each time we make a choice of life, either small or great, let’s wonder if we have left to the Lord a small space “for Him to be”, to light us, to act in us and via us. If we have the impression that he is not present even in a small dimension to implement great things in our small daily activity, perhaps we have kept too much for us our breads and our fishes.