18th Sunday of Ordinary
Time—A2008
Matthew 14:13-21
Deacon Lee Hunt (St. Monica)
Mother
Theresa tells the following story. ŇThe mother of a starving family was given a
small dish of rice. That was nice, but the real act of neighborly love happened
next. Before anyone ate a grain, the mother disappeared out the door. She came
back quickly with half a dish of rice and everyone ate hungrily. When asked why
she gave away the rice when her children were so hungry, she answered that they
could not enjoy the food knowing that their neighbor had nothing.Ó
TodayŐs
gospel reading is one most of us have heard many times. It is the feeding of
Ňabout 5,000 men, not counting women and children.Ó If the family back then
were like the average St. Monica family today with two children, this would be
a feeding of about 20,000 people.
Listening
to this reading from the perspective of the disciples, Jesus had them give the
loaves to the crowds. Jesus provides for his people through the first members
of his Church. Then the crowd may have followed the example of the disciples.
There
is an ongoing discussion among scripture scholars about the origin of all of
the bread. Could it be from the crowd beginning to share their individual food
sacks with their neighbors.
The
concept of sharing is certainly something that we can easily relate to today.
Most families coming to listen to Jesus in a deserted place would have packed
some food for the trip. Some families would really come prepared whereas others
probably were not prepared at all. If they all were really brothers and
sisters, those families with more would have shared with those with less, like
in the Mother Theresa story.
Fr.
TimŐs homilies some times give me ideas for my future homilies. I like his
description of two animals being yoked together. The yoke keeps them working
together and the two of them can accomplish things together that one could not
accomplish alone. This concept also applies to people.
My family became yoked to a
family in Peru nine years ago when we began providing them with a $25 food
package each month. By this yoke they began to have more daily bread to feed
their family. They could not do it on their own since the father could only
earn about $2 per day from occasional jobs. He actually earns about the same
amount as half of the people in the world, i.e., more than three billion
people.
The success of this yoking
became clearer this summer when a pediatrician was on a first-time mission trip
in Peru. She commented that she could tell the children who were supported
because they had better nutrition than other children who were not supported.
Yet even the supported children did not have adequate nutrition by our
standards.
Each of us can yoke with
someone, and they donŐt have to be continents away. We are challenged to find
someone with whom we can yoke. We can be church to someone just as the
disciples were yoked to the crowd and the families in the crowd were yoked to
one another.
There are some very simple
opportunities right here in our community such as visiting the sick, consoling
the grieving, caring for a child, or giving aid to an elder. When we get to
know them a little, we soon will find ourselves yoked to them.
There are many people in need
here in Edmond where there are between 10,000 and 20,000 people in need of free
health care. In our State, 46% of children live in low-income families. In our
country one in eight of us do not have enough money for the food, shelter, and
clothing according to American standards. There are 37 million people in our
country with whom we could yoke.
We can be a disciple and
distribute our time, talent, and/or treasure to someone who has less than we.
There are so many in need. Pick someone somewhere so that you can be like that
early church of disciples who distributed bread to the crowd for Jesus.
We were not put here to earn
a living; we were put here to make a difference.
Un Yugo para Alguien
La Madre Teresa cuenta que: ŇA la madre de una familia que viv’a con
mucha hambre, le dieron un platito de arroz. Pues, bien, pero lo que daba
prueba de su amor por los vecinos fue loe que paso luego. Antes de que su
familia pudiera probar un solo grano, la madre se desapareci— por la puerta.
Volvi— pronto con el platito medio lleno y s—lo entonces comi— su familia.
Cuando se le pregunt— a la madre que por que hab’a regalado la mitad del arroz
cuando sus ni–os ten’an tanta hambre, ella contest— que su familia no hubiera
podido gozar del arroz sabiendo que el vecino no ten’a nadaÓ.
El evangelio de hoy es uno que hemos o’do muchas veces. Es el que nos
cuenta de los cinco mil hombres, menos la mujeres y los ni–os, que recibieron
alimento. Si comparamos aquel grupo con las familias de Santa M—nica que hoy
cuentan con un promedio de dos hijos por familia, las cinco mil personas y m‡s,
comieron de la mano de Jesśs, aqu’ en Santa M—nica ser’an como veinte mil
personas.
Al escuchar esta lectura desde la perspectiva de los disc’pulos, Jesśs
les hab’a encargado con repartir el pan a todas las personas presente. Jesśs,
por medio de los primeros miembros se su Iglesia, cuida de su gente, esperando
que esta gente tambiŽn cuide de sus vecinos.
Esta idea de compartir es algo que podemos comprender hoy d’a. Algunas
de las familias que fueron bien preparadas. Pero otras familias no llevaron
nada. Si todos creyeron que ellos fueron hermanos y hermanas, las familias
preparadas compartir’an con las otras, como el la historia de Madre Teresa.
Los homil’as del Padre Tim muchas veces me han dado ideas que puedo yo
usar en mis homil’as. Me gusta su descripci—n de una yunta de dos animales. El
yugo los hace trabajar juntos. As’ los dos pueden lograr lo que uno s—lo no
pudiera hacer. Esta concepto aplica tambiŽn a la gente.
Hace nueve a–os que mi familia form— una yunta con una familia del
Perś cuando comenzamos a mandarles, cada mes, un paquete de comida. Cada
paquete ten’a el valor de veinticinco d—lares. Al ser parte de esta yunta, esa
familia tiene m‡s pan. La familia sola no pod’a comprar esa medida de pan ya
que el padre gana s—lo dos d—lares al d’a cuando encuentra trabajo. Lo que gana
ese padre es como la mitad de lo que ganan la mitad de los padres en todo el
mundo, eso decir, igual a tres billones de personas.
El Žxito de esta yunta se mi hizo claro cuando una pediatra quien fue
al Perś por primer vez, coment— que se echaba de ver la diferencia entra los
ni–os que hab’an recibido comida y aquellos que no hab’an recibido nada. Pero
hasta con esta ayuda aquellos todav’a se ve’an desnutridos al compararlo con
los ni–os aqu’.
Cada uno de ustedes puede formar una yunta con otros, que, tal vez,
vivan en otro continente. Les ofrezco un desaf’o: encuentren a alguien con
quien puedan formar una yunta. Usted puede ser la iglesia de Dios a alguien,
as’ como los disc’pulos formaron un yugo con la muchedumbre, y la muchedumbre
con ellos.
Hay muchas oportunidades aqu’ en nuestra comunidad. Por ejemplo,
visita a los enfermos, consola a los afligidos, cuida de ni–os o de ancianos.
Con—zcanlos bien y pronto ver‡n como han formado un yunta.
Hay mucha gente aqu’ en Edmond en necesidad. Entre diez mil y veinte
mil personas en nuestra cuidad necesitan sanidad gratis. En este Estado hay
cuarenta y seis por ciento ni–os que viven con familias que ganan sueldos
inferiores. En nuestro pa’s, uno entre ocho personas no ganan suficiente para
comer, para alojamiento, no para ropa adecuada, segśn la norma Americana. Hay
treinta y siete millones de personas en nuestro pa’s con quienes ustedes
pidieran formar una yunta.
Sea usted un disc’pulo y comparta su tiempo, su talento, y/o su tesoro
con alguien quien tenga menos que usted. Hay muchos en necesidad. Escoja a
alguien para que usted pueda ser como los primeros disc’pulos de la iglesia
quienes distribuyeron pan la muchedumbre en nombre de Jesśs.