June 6th,2010 • The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ • Corpus Christi
Give them some food
When do prayer and action come together? I’ve been praying for the people of Guatemala who have experienced two natural diasters with a few days -- a volcanic eruption and a hurricane. And I’ve been especially pray for Father Jim Hannon who went to visit Guatemala, fell and broke his leg, needed a pacemaker and then -- when he was finally recovered enough to come home -- was stuck in Guatemala because the airport has been shut down due to the volcano and the hurricane!
Is prayer enough? Can I just presume because I asked God to take care of things, that all will be automatically taken care of? It seems from today’s gospel that Jesus asks those who pray to him to help make the prayers fruitful. The apostles ask Jesus to dismiss the crowds because it had been a long day and people hadn’t eaten. What is Jesus’ response to this prayer? “Give them something to eat yourselves.” In other words, “If you want to help folks, then help them!” Prayer gets us started, but prayer without follow-up in action is wishful thinking.
This is not to say that our actions that come from prayer will always be THE answer to our prayers. In Father Jim’s case, a friend of his planned on flying to Guatemala City to accompany Father Jim back. The only flight he could get, stopped off first in Cancun, Mexico. While enroute to Cancun, the volcano erupted and the friend had to turn right around and come back to Long Island, without successfully meeting up with Father Jim.
Sometimes that’s the way it is with our trying to do good. But more often, our good deeds are blessed in ways we can’t quite understand at the time. When the apostles gave Jesus the few loaves and fish, he took all they had and fed thousands. Jesus continues to do that with us too.
So as we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, consider the people that you feed -- at home, of course, but in other places too. And I encourage everyone to bring non-perishable food to church on Sundays. Through the efforts of each, the church, as the sign of Jesus’ presence on earth, gets to feed thousands. Prayer and action come together in acts of love such as feeding the hungry.
