"Give them some food yourselves."

In this coming Sunday's Gospel we hear the familiar story of Jesus' multiplication of the loaves and fish. But the initial loaves and fish are not from Jesus; when he sees the crowd and his heart is, once again, moved with pity for them, he turns to his disciples and says "Give them some food yourselves." And it is when they come forward with the five loaves and two fish, saying "this is all we have," that Jesus then makes his miracle happen.

Often in our lives we think that what we have to offer isn't enough. Whether it's our financial resources, our talents, or our time, it constantly seems that we don't have enough to serve God's people as much as we would like. And yet, the lesson of this Gospel reading is that Jesus can take whatever it is that we have and bring about amazing things!

One of the places we see this regularly is in the Mass itself. The prayer the priest says with the bread when he receives the gifts is: "Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you. Fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life." The sentiment of this prayer is the same as this story: that God can take what we offer, even if it is mere bread made by human hands, and use it to do something amazing. And in this instance, he makes bread into the very Body of his Son!

So as we move forward this week, and on our journey as Christian stewards of the gifts that God has given to us, let us pray that we may trust in God's goodness! When we offer up our resources, our time, or our talents, the Lord sees and, in his own way, multiplies, even if we don't see it. May the ripple effects of our own generosity be turned by God into a wave of grace that transforms the hearts and minds of all the world!

Want to prepare your heart and mind for Mass this weekend? Click here to find the readings for this Sunday's Mass.