April 13, 2018

Gospel: Jn 6:1-15*
(…) Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Then lifting up his eyes, Jesus saw the crowds that were coming to him, and said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat?” He said this to test Philip, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.” Then one of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, so the people, about five thousand men, sat down. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish, and gave them as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten enough, he told his disciples, “Gather up the pieces left over, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with bread, that is, with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. When the people saw the miracle which Jesus had performed, they said, “This is really the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Jesus realized that they would come and take him by force to make him king; so he fled to the hills by himself.

Reflections
IF THEIR ACTIVITY IS OF HUMAN
ORIGIN, IT WILL DESTROY ITSELF.
IF IT IS FROM GOD ,YOU WILL
NOT BE ABLE TO DESTROY IT.
Sometimes we are confronted with a situation where we are not sure whether to judge the situation positively or negatively. In this biblical incident Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin, faced the dilemma of whether to condemn or not to condemn the disciples of Jesus in their preachings, made this truly wise decision. He himself was not sure about them since their leader was executed by the state. But he might have seen that they were doing a lot of good healing people, etc. So he said leave them alone because if truly they are not of God their activities will stop but if they are of God, stopping them would mean stopping the good works of God. This is truly a guideline that can help us when confronted by the same situation. When people of other faiths preach their beliefs that is different from ours, we should not right away condemn them. We should, as Gamaliel did, let them be because if they are not from God, their activities will not prosper. But if they are from God, why should we stop them? I believe that God is so full of blessings and He is free to distribute these to anyone and work through anyone.

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