Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
In today’s gospel, we have Matthew’s description of the multiplication of the loaves. I am not one to debunk miracles or to say well, what really happened was this… but one incident I recall always gives new insight into this passage. I recall when Pope John Paul II came to Chicago in October of 1979. A group of young Jesuits drove up that night before from St. Louis and of course we were hardly prepared for spending the day in the field waiting for the pope. Running out the door, some of us grabbed oranges and bananas, others nabbed the pop-tarts, but it wasn’t much. (Young Jesuits are not a species known for their organization.) We got there amidst the crowd and waited on the lawn. Soon food came out, others being prepared, others not, but everything ended up on the blanket, including our pop-tarts. Before long, more food appeared, and no one wanted to haul everything back home. For those of us in our section there was more food than we needed. Perhaps it was one of those special moments encouraged by the pending presence of the pontiff, that encouraged us to share. But share we did, and there was enough for all.