30/07/2006 - SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY in
ORDINARY TIME - Year B
First Readin 2 Kings 4:42-44 Psalm 144/145
Second Reading Ephesians 4:1-6 Gospel John 6:1-15
As any other habit in the life of human beings, sexuality is a means of temptation,
as well. Often, the mistakes of the adults urge the young to hide the desire
to know their own sexuality and to look for answers in superficial venues, where
it is incomplete and distorted. Here the devil finds it easy to play his cards
and steer the young away from the sight of God. He steers them on the road to
comfort and freedom, the road that allows sexuality and the sexual organs to
be seen as the source of pleasure. Here begins the road towards technical means
of excitement in fantasy and in body, towards masturbation and many other easy
sexual rapports. Those who are tempted ruin both heart and mind: they will no
longer seek to give themselves freely and serenely for love. They are not, easily,
capable of doing so; they will deprive themselves of the most profound and freely
given joys, and of the peaceful communion with others. Consequently, the point
of view that there is life, only, in the seeking of personal satisfaction is
conceived. Even, the eventual marriage will be seen as an opportunity for enjoyment,
with the subsequent exclusion of conjugal fidelity and of indissolubility of
marriage. In this climate superficiality in procreation will grow, as well as
the avoidance of procreation by all the technical means available, even those
which impede in the healthy development of the couple, as well as those which
may provoke abortion in the first few days of gestation.
The prophet Elisha accomplishes a great act of faith. One hundred came to listen
to him, and he wants to feed them. He had been given twenty loaves of barley
and fresh ears of grain; this was all he had! The disciple was ashamed to place
such an insufficient quantity before them, but the prophet knows that God gave
him all that is required. He does not doubt God, and God rewards Elisha's faith!
A similar wonder, even better and more evident, takes place at the hands of
Jesus. He has, before Him, a crowd of five thousand and, only, five barley loaves!
What took place reawakened the memory of those present, who understood that
Jesus is "the prophet who is to come into the world"; that is, the
One who had been promised by God and awaited by all the people! This crowd understood,
but was not able to draw the proper conclusion. They want Him to be king: to
rule, to lay down the law; moreover, to worry about resolving the problems of
their people. They want to make sure that Jesus does what is important to them.
The conclusion that they should have been able to draw was this: since You are
the prophet, tells us what we need to do, how to live! The crowd did not react
this way, but we can do this!
We say to Jesus: "You are truly the One who gives us the Word of the Father!
Speak and we will listen. We will follow Your example. We will let You lead
us! The masses will never come to this conclusion; each of us must arrive at
this conclusion in the secret of our own heart! Each of us can behave as the
boy did: he placed all that he had in the hands of Jesus, all his bread. He
is the only one who knew how to have complete faith in the Lord, and so, his
simple faith became the gift for the masses! Jesus used the boy's faith to show,
and to give, the people the surprising love of the Father! This way, Jesus showed
how we might live, even though we are many: we can live as brothers, by putting
all that we have at the disposal of one another. There is no greater or truer
joy than that of brotherhood. By making use of what we have to manifest our
love, to behave as brothers, allows the presence and the love of the Father
to be understood. This is why joy is diffused, whenever we put ourselves at
the disposal of others. And, on these occasions, the little is always sufficient!
If, only, the whole world was like this! Jesus came and prayed that the world
would be this way! He communicates with us. If we want the world to change,
we need to start. We are the ones who know what to do so that the world becomes
a kingdom of brothers! Let us begin to obey Jesus, to thank the Father, to seek,
not our needs and our pleasure, but those of our brother's. Let us place our
energy and our riches in the hands of Jesus, and He will transform the world
into one brotherhood. If you do not begin, no one else, in his/her own surroundings,
will! If you ignore the presence and the Word of Jesus, you will increase the
suffering of some, and of many, around you. Begin and persevere! It is the special
"vocation" to which we are called, that of loving humbly and preserving
unity with all our strength! We have the vocation to show the world that there
is only One God, the God who loves mankind and is, for them, both father and
mother! Our vocation is a marvellous one: we cannot ignore it; if we do, we
will become sad and unhappy! God calls us to be brothers, and to form a brotherhood!