In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus shows what Divine Providence can do. From a small amount, God makes more than enough for everyone. The story begins, “…he (Jesus) knew what he was going to do,” which shows Jesus’ confidence in God’s abundance.
The miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes appears six times in the Gospels (in Mark and John, and twice in Matthew and Luke), an indication of how important this experience was for his followers.
A boy in the crowd has five barley loaves and two fish, just enough. With love and confidence, Jesus gives thanks and distributes the food. Thousands are satisfied, the food never ran out, and his disciples even gathered the leftovers into 12 baskets.
In the hands of Jesus, this small amount is an example of how whatever we bring to God with assurance, God can increase and multiply to satisfy our needs abundantly. We embrace this belief when we say, “where there is a will, there is a way.” With our “two bits” of effort and full faith in God, we can feed the whole world without running out.
Can we imagine such a reality? If we know we can trust in God’s abundance, do we have the will?
