All miracles of abundance before the advent of the Gospel prefigure Christ’s gift of the Eucharist. In fact our Gospel is taken from John and there the language of the Passover is clearly an echo of the Mass that we celebrate. Furthermore, beyond the Eucharist, this miracle is also a foreshadowing of the Messianic Banquet of heaven.
God is lavishly generous evidenced by having enough to eat and 12 baskets full of left-over. As the Psalm extols God’s providence in sustaining creation at all times, the challenge is for us to imitate God’s generosity.
In the 2nd Reading St Paul speaks of generosity in the manner of living. Be kind and be gentle as we are united in the one bread forming one body. This generosity is summed up in the Eucharist. In John’s Gospel, the Multiplication of Loaves and Fish replaces the Last Supper. In place of the Institution Narrative, Jesus washes the feet of His disciples suggesting that the observe of the Eucharistic coin is service. Generosity is not restricted to the parting of material wealth. Just like Bread that is broken, our thanksgiving is lived through a generous attitude of pouring out one’s life in the imitation of Christ.
What can hem in our desire to be generous like God is the fear of inadequacy, that is, the idea of “not enough”. The following observation sounds like a criticism but it is not. In fact, it is to highlight who we truly were that can help us to cultivate the attitude of generosity. Remember that during the pandemic, white flags were flown and the immediate reaction was an outpouring of kindness? We were more willing to give in the midst of crisis. Now that we have returned to normalcy, it feels like we are a bit shyer in sharing.
When we operate with a mentality of not enough, we shy away from sharing and tend towards selfishness. Think for a moment this statement: God is generous. In His infinite wisdom, could the Lord be less omniscient than He is? Has He created a world which is incapable of feeding itself? Or are we accustomed to the mantra that the world is overpopulated and that there is not enough resources to support a ballooning population? Is there not enough to go around or could it be more that we are unaccustomed to generosity.
We do not live in a world which is incapable of feeding the hungry. That is a fact. This sounds like a socialist or communist chant but it is not. Instead, it is a rather sad reflection of how little trust we have in God’s providence. It explains why we operate with a mindset that is possessive which makes it hard to see others as brothers and sisters. According to the Catechism, CCC2404 "In his use of things, man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself." In other words, ownership, even though it is legitimately owned, is also stewardship. We are stewards of God’s Providence for we have been tasked to generate prosperity to benefit others.
This might sound like a familiar tune from the Gospel of Prosperity used to psych or rouse the congregation into giving but it is not. Catholics do not tithe but the truth is that each Sunday’s collection is part and parcel of that generosity to assist the Church in carrying out the mission entrusted to her—to evangelise and to make all nations disciples of the one Lord and God.
The most generous gift or service we have is not money. It is ourselves. Priests and religious are called to a life which gives of themselves entirely to the Lord. Those of us who are called to marriage give of ourselves to our spouses. Parents give of themselves to the care of their children. And children should reciprocate. We often think of generosity in material terms and the question associated with being generous is “how much”. However, which is easier to accomplish? To hear someone who is down and out, moaning and groaning about his or her misfortunes? Sitting with your grandmother who is repeating stories of her past? Or. To give RM50 to a charitable cause? I vaguely remember the story of a small boy whose father was always busy. So the child asked the father the cost of an hour of his time. He tried to pay the father for that hour to spend with him. Generosity is an ability to let ourselves be taken away, to be burn off like a candle and that makes parting with material wealth even more meaningful.
This Sunday’s challenge as posed by the Readings and the Gospel invites us to a greater generosity like God is. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the best we can imitate God is to be generous. For it is in gratitude that we are human and in generosity, we are divine.
