17th Sun. of Ordinary Time, Year B, 2015

(2 Kings 4,42-44; Ephesians 4,1-6; John 6,1-15: 17^th Sun. of Ordinary Time, Year B, 2015)

In today’s Gospel and first reading, we find striking common features: God’s benevolent act of feeding his people; the disproportionate ratio of those to be fed and the food available; miraculous multiplication of the food such that there were some left over after the feeding of the people and more interestingly, the fact that what was multiplied to feed the people did not fall from heaven but rather came from an individual. Of all these, perhaps the last feature has tremendous message for us in understanding Divine Providence.

            Consistent with his nature as a loving Father, God does not lose sight of the need of His creatures, even the smallest.  He provides for their well being and does this often in an amazing manner.  Divine providence ensures the sustenance and perpetuity of creation.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say in this regard, “…the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history”. (cf. CCC 303). The miraculous episode of the multiplication, in both the first reading and the Gospel, teaches us to have faith in Divine Providence. In the first reading, the servant of Elisha, and in the Gospel, both Philip and Andrew were skeptical that the little food they had would satisfy the hunger of the people who were with them, in a deserted area, far away from where one could buy enough food, presuming the availability of money. We know what happened in both passages.  A message that is constant in the whole Bible comes to the fore: Nothing is impossible to God! What is impossible to man is chicken feed for God (Matt 19, 26; Mark 10, 27; Luke 1, 37; 18, 27). What it boils down to is that we, weak men and women, should recognize our limitations, ask for help from God and trust Him.

            Even though providence is all God’s doing, there is, however, a human side to it in the sense that God wills that man cooperates with him as secondary causes to bring about the full realization of his will.  The Catechism puts it succinctly: “God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creature’s cooperation.  This is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God’s greatness and goodness.  For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of cooperating in the accomplishment of his plan”. (CCC 306) 

            The man from Baal-shalishah in the first reading of today and the small boy in the gospel offered what they had, which were in turn, miraculously multiplied to feed the people.  They became willful cooperators to bring about the realization of divine providence.  Today, God continues to give us the privilege of becoming secondary causes of the solicitude of Divine Providence.  The choice is ours: to either cooperate with God’s benevolence by bringing up the little we have so that others can benefit from it and experience God’s loving care; or to keep that which we have to ourselves selfishly and refuse to make it available. Selfishness is the root cause of all the evils we have in our society; be it moral, or physical. Selfishness has to be substituted by the spirit of solidarity and sacrificial love for the neighbour in need. By eschewing selfishness and embracing solidarity we would be pitching camp alongside the solicitude of Divine Providence. But if, however, we choose to remain in the side of selfishness, we can never put a stop to Divine Providence. It is just that we lose the opportunity and privilege to share in the realization of Divine Providence when selfishness, covetousness, avarice and the like prevent us from opening our hands and letting others share what we have.

The multiplication of bread and fish in today’s gospel reading by Jesus is a symbol, prefiguration and anticipation of the establishment of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, by which we have the multiplication of the Body and Blood of Jesus for the spiritual nurture of all who receive Him in the Sacramental Communion. By his command at the institution of the Eucharist: Do this in memory of me, he providentially assures of his presence and the provision of spiritual nourishment for our souls. It is this spiritual nourishment, which Jesus provides, that will enable us strengthen our Christian virtues especially that of sacrificial love, which serves as the foundation of unity, concord and peace. Let us pray that participating in the Eucharistic meal, which is daily multiplied in our altars, we may obtain the graces we need to comport ourselves in a manner worthy of the vocation we have received! Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye