In today’s Gospel we see an important principle in the spiritual life expressed: God always gives sufficient grace to follow the commands/calls He gives. This principle, flowing from the theological virtue of hope, enables us to whole heartily give ourselves to the work that God entrusts to us, confident that grace will bolster our feeble strength.
Give Them Some Food Yourselves
The scene is set by the vast multitude that is following Jesus to hear His words. As the day draws to a close, the crowd grows hungry. The place they are in is deserted, meaning forging off land is not an option. Due to the number of people, buying food is also not practical. Despite these circumstances, which He in His Divine Wisdom clearly knew, Jesus tells his disciples, “Give them some food yourselves,” (Mk 6:37) when asked by them to dismiss the crowd. Jesus then directs them to take stock of their available resources, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” (Mk 6:38)
After checking their inventory, they are confirmed in their belief that they have nowhere near the amount of food needed to feed the crowd. Yet, Jesus commands them to bring what they have. He then blesses it and gives it back to them to distribute to the crowd. A miracle is then performed with everyone having enough to eat with baskets of food left over.
My Grace is Sufficient
Despite the disciples’ complete natural inability to fulfill Jesus’ call, “Give them some food yourselves,” they do feed the crowd by the aid of grace. This is a key to understanding how we are supposed to live out the Christian life.
We must bring what we have to the Lord and trust that He will make it enough by His grace for the work He has given to us. God desires to work through us by elevating our actions to a supernatural height.
While it will of course be Him doing the supernatural part, we are a true participant in the act and are ‘doing’ the act as well by our cooperation. As we continue to start this New Year, consider what work God is calling you to do, even though it is beyond your natural powers. Accept the call with a lively confidence that He will provide what you need to accomplish it.
