Some bread and some fish, what good are they when so many are hungry and need to be fed? When so many are lost and in need of a shepherd but refuse to be shepherded, what are we to do? We can try and send them away. We can try and distance ourselves from them and their problems (which really are also our problems). We can despair. We can run. Or we can love. We can love them first. And love them again. And love them again. Which is what our God does for us over and over again.

Our limited gifts and talents and abilities are not going to feed all the hungry or clothe all the naked or completely alleviate poverty. But with God’s grace there will come a day when there will be no more hunger, no more sadness, no more illness and no more poverty. God will make it happen, not us. Yet God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves. It is within our purview to share what meager resources we have, our few loaves of bread and fish, with those who are hungry. We can share the riches of the Gospel. We can share mercy and forgiveness. Like Jesus, by our words and actions we can help people to understand and come to believe that they are loved and lovable and cherished. We can do it if we will share what we ourselves have first received.