How Do Miracles Happen?

As we were waiting for the mass to begin yesterday at the Saint Joseph Cathedral here in San Jose, my attention wandered to the altar and I started wondering: How many prayers of petition and supplications have been brought to this altar? How many joyful moments have been celebrated in this place?  How many people have come here in humility and gratitude for the blessings they have received? This altar has been the center and focus of a vibrant community of faith, where joys and happiness are multiplied  because they are shared and  where sorrows and pain are lessened because they are shared and divided.

A little boy shares what he has: five barley loaves and two fish. And Jesus is able to feed five thousand men, not yet counting the women and the children. And in the end, there were still twelve baskets of leftovers. Where there is openness to loving and sharing, there is enough for all our needs. Resources are multiplied and there is true abundance.  Where we are loathe to love and to share what we have, there is never enough to satisfy our selfish greed. There is scarcity.

And when people are willing and ready to love and share, miracles to happen: loaves and fish are multiplied; water is changed into wine; the dead are raised back to life; and people begin forgiving one another. This is what we bring to the altar: our lives to be shared in love. And we only need to sit back and watch and wait to see the magic and the miracles to happen.

The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.
~ Psalm 145

Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves
that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
“This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
John 6:1-15