It’s easy to become discouraged sometimes by the brokenness in our world, the problems within our families and even within our church, our own sinfulness.  What can we possibly offer in the face of such great need?  Sometimes it seems like all we have are a few crumbs of bread and a scrap of fish.  Even as a society: our human ingenuity, government programs, scientific advances, technology: these are good things and we certainly should try to do all we can to better the world we live in.  But in the end, despite the ways these various human initiatives can improve our lives, we know deep down that none of these things can really offer lasting and complete solutions for the problems in our world.  Only Christ can touch the wounds of the world with his healing hand and bring comfort and peace to his people. 

This is a very important story we’ve heard in our gospel lesson today.  It’s the only miracle that’s recorded in all four gospels.  It’s a miracle that helps us make sense of a lot of things that came before.  Elisha, for example, in the Old Testament reading today, has some of the same characteristics that Christ would ultimately manifest fully.  Elisha was able somehow to feed an enormous number of people with only a few scraps of food, which shows that he is truly a man of God, one who brings God’s presence to the people: Elisha’s role as God’s instrument is demonstrated by his ability to do what only God can do: provide for our physical needs.  Within this context, Christ comes along; he also feeds thousands through the power of God.  He is the new Elisha.  But in this case, he’s not a prophet; he’s not an intermediary; he’s not “Middle Management.”  He, himself, is the Great I AM, Almighty God, the source of all that is good, here among us.  And Christ is so lavish in his generosity, that there are 12 wicker baskets of leftovers: which is more, by the way, than the original food the disciples had available.  God takes our meager offerings and transforms them to satisfy the needs of thousands; and after everyone is satisfied, the leftovers are more abundant than the original ingredients. 

This is a real message to us about how God operates, how he uses what we have to offer.  We all bring different things to the table.  Many different sorts of gifts, and they can be very simple: maybe we are good with our hands, or have a green thumb, or are able to fix things; maybe we’re naturally gifted in our intellect, artistic talent, work ethic, leadership skills.  Whatever these gifts are in each one of our individual lives, they come from God, to encourage us, and to help us to do our part in the world.  Many gifts, but in the Lord, they are brought together in one Spirit for the building up of the body of Christ, as St. Paul says.  God gives us these seemingly little gifts, talents which are often very humble, but they truly do enrich our own lives and the lives of others.  He shows us exactly how that works whenever we come to Mass: when he takes the humblest, simplest gifts of a tiny piece of bread and a small sip of wine, not enough to satisfy our bodies for even a few hours.  But he will use those little ingredients to satisfy our deepest needs, because he transforms the bread and wine into himself.  That’s what he does with everything we have to offer him, with all of our gifts and talents: everything in our life becomes Eucharistic.  He gives us little gifts, and then uses those little gifts to create grace and peace and joy for ourselves and for others we share our life with.  And he’s so good at it, that there’s grace left over. 

So when we see the brokenness of the world and of ourselves: there are no easy fixes, no instant miracle cures.  Instead, we dare to offer God the tiny fragments of whatever we have to offer, and we trust that he will use those things to enrich and nourish our own lives, and the lives of those we love.