Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Five loaves and two fish” – all ate and were satisfied.

This ‘physical parable’ showed that in God’s hands the inadequate becomes more than satisfactory.

Do your best and leave the rest to God. We never know the outcome of what we do. Often, it is far more than we imagined.

Some 50 years ago, as chaplain to Cardinal Vaughan School, I got the school every day in May at its morning assembly to pray for vocations. At the end of May, a teacher came and said to me, “I have been thinking of the priesthood for a number of years. You have tipped me over.” Terry Phipps  went to Rome and studied at the Venerabile Colegio Inglese until ordained. For many years now, he has been a wonderful parish priest, alas now, these past few years,  suffering from Parkinson’s disease.. Those assembly prayers had a wonderful effect.

In Lourdes this year a woman admitted she felt suicidal – until a young man gave her a great big smile – and asked how she was. 

You never know what your words and actions can achieve. Five loaves and two fish never imagined how many they could – in God’s hands - feed.