Giving the Gift. Seeing the Miracle. | Word from the Shepherd No. 139 | 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time B

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B
2Kgs.4:42-44; Eph.4:1-6; Jn.6:1-15

What do children say about Grandparents & the Elderly? What do people say about them?

  1. Grandparents are a lady and a man. With no little children of their own. They like other people’s children.
  2. They are the only grownups who like to spend time with us. They tell stories. They like telling them again and again when we ask them to.

God has something to say to them also.(2Kgs) You have something to give to the family, to the community and to the people. You are not alone, because “I am with you always”. Learn from the Israelites, that you are called as family,

  1. To offer the first fruits to God or to God’s anointed like Elisha
  2. To share with the people, the community (they ate, they had leftover, they saw abundance)

God says: (Eph. 4) You are called to ONENESS ie. one body, one Spirit, one love, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. See I am with you always in your oneness.

Jesus (Jn. 6) reminds us that everyone, in a Christ-centred family or community, discover that:

  1. Each member possesses “something to give”, their 5 loaves & 2 fishes. (one’s faith, wisdom, love, stories, roots, time)
  2. Each one is entrusted to “distribute to others”, the crowd.
  3. Each is required to give their hands or themselves, for any miracle to take place.

The family is no more what it was destined to be. They have been downsized, the family members are farmed out. The reasons are valid. The times have changed. Work, shifts and long working hours make it difficult. It’s difficult to manage with work, children and personal time. The grandparents and the elderly are left alone, sent off to the nursing homes. Yet social observers say: The grandparents are:

  1. A family’s great treasure
  2. The founder of loving legacy
  3. The Storytellers and Keepers of traditions and the family roots
  4. The Providers of a family foundation

The grandparents and the elderly, their love and care, their happiness and sorrow keep the family close to the heart (very often, the young ones, angry with the parents, returned with understanding and healing, after complaining and sounding to the grandparents). They are a healing presence in the family.

Dear Grandparents & the Elderly, you are not alone as long as you are connected to your God, your call & mission, and the gift to give (the small 5 loaves & 2 fishes). Keeping giving that gift. Keep giving yourself. The miracle is within all of you. GIVE & SEE.