17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) Jn 6:1-15 July 26th 2009 - Today the Gospel says that the Lord Jesus performed a miracle with the five barley loaves and two fish that a boy had. What would have happened if this guy had hidden his loaves and fish? Or what if Andrew, who knew about the fish and bread, had kept the food to eat for himself?

When we have a problem or a difficult situation to face, what do we do? When we have no food, no money, bad health, what do we do? Do we get desperate, angry or sad? Do we give up?  Do we look for a solution?

A fable says that two frogs were jumping from one place to another. They were so happy. Suddenly they fell into a pale of milk. One of the frogs shouted and said: I am going to die! Please, help me. I am going to die! And she drowned. The other frog said: I have to survive. I have to survive. And she kicked as strongly as she could. After a while of trying the same thing she realized that there was something solid beneath her feet. What was it? Because she kicked a lot, she churned the milk into butter, which allowed her to jump out of the pale.

What frog would we choose to be? Life is sometimes like this parable about the frogs. Like the surviving frog, we cannot give up.  But, how do we not give up?  We are supposed to ask God great things.  God wants to be God in our lives. He is love, a friend, a father...  but he is also God, creator of heaven and earth. We have to ask him great things. Well, how can we imitate the second frog? We can imitate that frog by letting God be God in our lives. Dealing with problems or facing hard situations has many advantages. One of them is that we can gain humility. Sometimes we think that we can do everything and do not need anybody.  However, our problems help us to see our need for God. We have to go to Him with faith for assistance with our problems. Difficulties help us to understand that God is present and is always close to us. This Mass is a good example of God's closeness to us.

This coming week we will celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. He used to say, "When you have a project to run, do all you can as if everything were up to you. But after that, put everything in God’s hands as if everything were up to Him."

God wants us to work. He does not bless the lazy. He blesses work and the workers. Faith in God and hard work are important things that we must remember in hard times.

The lord Jesus said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do... Then Andrew said after the boy presented his bread and fish, "what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.”

How do we let God be God in our lives?  By obedience. What is he going to do? Like the apostles, we too can ask, "What do I gain by coming to Mass every Sunday or by praying every day?" We obey God’s will and through this we make it possible for Him to act in our lives.

After this, we can live the wonder of our faith and of our God; like the people around Jesus, we can also say, "This is truly God, not the Prophet, God."

My brothers and sisters, once more let us pray and meditate by thanking God for wanting to be God in our lives and for teaching us how to approach life with Him as a part of it.

Thanksgiving