From a very young age, I remember my mom often saying: God will provide! We were not poor,
but there were moments in which things were tight at home. There were also moments in which
we had to face situations of sickness, family problems and other events in which things looked
difficult and uncertain. Nevertheless, whatever the need we were facing, I remember my mom
always saying: God will provide! Indeed, my mom’s conviction of God’s providence was the fruit
of many experiences she had lived in which she faced situations that she did not have the human
resources or means to solve, and, somehow, God always showed his provident love. I must say
that, as a child, I was reassured by my mom’s faith in God’s providence.
However, as I grew older, I had to make this faith my own, as I experienced my own situations of need and precariousness. Having faced, myself, many situations, circumstances, and events in which I clearly saw the provident hand of God, I perfectly understand now what my mom meant every time she said: God will provide! Yes, God does provide! He will always use our situations of need and precariousness
to show that He is the only one who is able to bring abundance out of nothing, light out of darkness,
and life out death, and to show that, in impossible situations, He always manifests His providence
and His generosity. Today’s Gospel is a clear example of this.
God’s Provident Love
Indeed, the passage of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish, shows how Jesus has
come to reveal God’s provident love. There is a “vast crowd,” following Jesus and listening to His
words. “Five thousand men, without counting women and children,” to be exact. Undoubtedly, a
huge crowd! When the day is ending, the disciples approach Jesus and make him aware that there
was a problem: “this is a deserted place, and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can
go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” The disciples approach the situation only thinking
about human and “realistic” possibilities. There is no food around, there is a huge crowd, it is late:
send them away, so that they can provide for themselves. However, Jesus’s mission was to reveal
to them, and to the crowd, that when God is present, we can hope for more than just “human” and
“realistic” possibilities, because God. Indeed, calling the disciples to faith, and asking them to
bring them the very little they had, Jesus provides an abundant banquet out of nothing. The gospel
says that they ate, and ate until they were full, and there was so much left over, that they were able
to fill twelve baskets. This is God! There was no human solution to that problem. There was no
way in which the disciples could give the crowd something to eat, as Jesus had told them, simply
to prepare them to witness the miracle He was going to perform. The only solution in that situation
of precariousness and need was that God would provide. And, boy, He did!
We have heard this gospel many times. We know what Jesus did for this huge crowd. But why is
this gospel so important for us? Why is it good to hear this gospel over and over again? Because
it is important to remember that what Jesus manifested to the disciples and to the crowd that day,
He wants to manifest to us every day of our lives: God will provide!
Opportunities to Trust
Even if we strive to secure every aspect of our lives: financial, emotional, and existential, we must
face the fact that the mark of our lives is instead precariousness. I am sure you have faced situations
in which you have no human solution, and no way to respond to them. It is precisely in those
moments in which God wants to show us that, in Him, there is security, because He always
provides. Every situation of need and difficulty is not necessarily to be faced as a problem or as
something to solve no matter what. Instead, every situation of need is an opportunity to see that
God provides, that He is good, that He loves us, that He sees our struggles and He is “moved with
pity” for us. God will always provide.
I invite all of us to meditate on this gospel and to ask the Lord the grace to trust Him. I am sure
that if we abandon ourselves to Him, we will always be able to see that every situation is
providential for us to see God’s mercy and love in action. May the Lord help us to see His love
always.
[Readings: Jer 28:1-17; Mt 14:13-21]
