Act on Faith

Donated and served at Caritas

Did you ever give a thought to how much we actually depend on faith?

When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ - Matthew 14:14-16

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus tests the thinking of his disciples who believe the logical thing to do when people are hungry, is to send them away so they can get food.

If we didn't have the means to help someone, we would probably come to the same conclusion.  They need to go get what they need.

But Jesus knows that God rewards acts of faith, giving us more than we expect or are capable of doing on our own. 

We may not think about it this way, but so many of us live on faith.  We expect the future to provide more of what we received in the past. 

In the for-profit business world, we expect people to continue to buy our goods and services.  They trust our brand and need what we have to offer. 

In the non-profit world, we hope and pray that those who supported our ministry last year will do so again this year.

We don't stop serving until the next check comes in, and we don't send people away.  We just do as Jesus says, "you give them something to eat."

Last night I waited almost an hour at the on-location set of a popular TV show to receive 14 trays of food that were left over after the cast and crew had been fed.

I thought of the baskets of leftovers that remained after Jesus fed the 5000.  I had to wait because some of the people were still on the shoot and had not eaten yet.  So I was patient, knowing that I had more hungry mouths to feed and this was food I didn't have to pay for.

Yes, God provides, but that doesn't mean we don't have to do some work too.  The disciples had to distribute the food they had and collect what was left over.  It is work, and if they have no faith, they won't do it, and people won't be fed.

What if the true miracle of the loaves and fishes occurs when people get involved?

The act of distributing the food in faith made it stretch farther. 

When life hands us more of a challenge than we think we can handle, we just need to tackle it in faith, and who knows, people may come out of the woodwork to help.

That is how we survive in this ministry of feeding the hungry.  We act on faith.  And we invite others to come along for the ride, like Jesus did.

Just feed them, he said.

We should do that.

More to come...