Leave it to God

This morning, Fr. Kim celebrated the 11 a.m. Mass. After returning to Korea for more than half a year, he came back on holidays. He joked that he was home-sick, where home means Hong Kong.
He shared with us that life has been very routine way back in Korea. Getting up at six, saying the hours of the Office, saying Mass, meditation, administrative work, spiritual formation work, pastoral work and self-study etc. Surely, the seven and a half years he has spent in Hong Kong have made him more open-up and more considerate. Feed-backs from relatives and friends consistently mention how much he has changed since his last stay in Korea. Fr. Kim thanked us for our generosity in sharing our joy, our sadness and our life with him. He felt blessed to be a missionary priest and he eagerly shared his experiences with the novices back in the Korean seminary. He wished that one day, many more Korean young priests would be deployed to Hong Kong.
Today, we read the Matthean version of the miracle of Five Loaves and Two Fish. Fr. Kim dwelt on the theme of sharing and it was sharing that made miracles a possibility. He brought our attention to the difference in attitudes towards the same situation: the attitude of the apostles and that of Jesus.
After hearing the death of John the Baptist, Jesus retired to a lonely place to figure out how to proceed. The situation had changed. There was no more John the Baptist and he himself would become the focus of all Messianic Expectations. The conflicts with the Jewish authority would be direct ones. Meanwhile, people came to him from the towns.
As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14).
Jesus knew their needs. He was compassionate and was very willing to relieve their sufferings. He worked all day long to heal the sick.
When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves."
Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." (Matthew 14:15-16).
The disciples did not feel it their (and Jesus') responsibility to feed the crowd. The Master had already done more than enough, teaching them and healing them. Let's call it a day. We also need to take a break. However, Jesus did not agree. He said that the crowd did not need to go. The disciples should feed them. Truly, throughout history, the Church has always taken up charitable work. A hungry soul will be too much distracted from spiritual pursuits. To deliver spiritual talks is easy. To hand out concrete services is another matter.
The contrast in attitudes did not stop there. It was further illustrated by the following two verses.
They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish."
And he said, "Bring them here to me." (Matthew 14:17-18)
We are truly very stupid servants. We take things in our own hands and manhandle the issues in our own ways. Whenever the technology allows, we play God. Clearly, this time it is beyond human intervention. How could five loaves and two fish feed five thousand people? Once more, this is the M.O. of God, His signature. God only needs this small amount of food to make it clear beyond any doubt that this was His work, not ours. It takes ages for us to learn to bring the whole issue to Jesus, to leave things to God.

My dear Advocate, when shall we learn? Probably, we never will. But Jesus has already shown us the way. The truth is always there, staring at our eyes. We only need to really listen to Your words. People in Jeremiah's time failed to listen. Today, we are no better. Pray that we really listen to You, lay our burdens before You. Amen.