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One morning, before Mass starts, you’re sitting quietly in your
bench, and you find yourself praying, “O God, please help the young
couple next door. Their baby is not doing well and they’re back and
forth from the hospital several times a day.
“If you listen attentively, you might well hear God reply: “Why
don’t you do something to help them?
“I’d like to, but I have nothing”.
But you hear God counter: “You have a great recipe for beef tips.
Make a batch and take it over to them some afternoon. They’d welcome
it. You do NOT have nothing”.
During the pastor’s annual parish financial report, you sigh to
yourself, “Tell me about it, Father. Money’s tight all over”.
And, in that quiet, barely audible voice in your heart, you hear
God: “So why don’t you lend a hand?”
“I don’t know anything about church work. I have nothing to
contribute”. But God persists: “You have a talent and love of gardening – get a
group together to clean up the church yard and fix up the landscaping.
You have an hour during the week – volunteer to help in the parish
office. You get along great with kids – give that hour to help a teacher in
the religious education program. You do NOT have nothing”.
Watching the news or reading the newspaper one evening, you can
barely hide your disgust at the state of things.
But there’s that voice: “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Hey, God, I don’t do politics. I have nothing – no interest, no
patience, and no competence in these issues”.
But God admonishes: “You DO have an interest and a stake in
this–for you and your children and your neighbors. This is your
community; this is your country. These matters affect you deeply — and
the world I gave you. You can learn about these issues. You can ask
questions. You can become an informed and an aware voter. You do
NOT have nothing”. When confronted by his disciples with the need to feed the crowds,
Jesus first challenges them to give something from what they have.
With more truth than they realize, the disciples confess, “We have
nothing”. But they manage to scrape together a few pieces of bread and
fish – and with that, Jesus works the miracle. God can take our meager
offerings and transform them into bread. In much the same way, Jesus
challenges us to give of our “nothing” with faith that God can transform
our “scraps” into powerful manifestations of his loving presence in our
midst.
I close,
Let Jesus work the miracles.
Let us not be afraid to give whatever we have

I would like to share with you two short stories to help
break open our gospel parables.
There was this poor tailor who lived in Krakow. He
was a very pious man. One night he had a dream in which a
voice said to him, “If you go to Prague and dig beneath a
certain tree behind the emperor’s castle, you will find a great
treasure.”
Since the poor man placed great trust in dreams, he set
out the very next day for Prague. However, when he got
there he found the castle was guarded. Unable to get across
the bridge, he lived under it for a while. While there he
became friends with the captain of the guard. One day he
shared his story with him. He said,
“I had a dream that if I got into the castle grounds, and
went to a certain tree and dug there, I would find a treasure.” “You’re a very foolish man,” said the captain. “You
shouldn’t believe that sort of thing. I have dreams myself.
Once I dreamed that over in Krakow there lived a poor but
wise tailor, not unlike yourself. I dreamt that if I went to his
house, and dug behind his stove, I would find a treasure there
that somebody had buried a long time ago. Of course, I
dismissed it as foolishness.”
The tailor thanked him, went back home, dug behind
his own hearth and found the treasure.
We will never be happy unless we find the treasure that
God has hidden in our own field. That is, until we have
found the treasure of our own worth as God’s children.
The painter, Vincent Van Gogh, suffered a lot from ill
health. Consequently he often had to call on the services of
doctors. But he scarcely had any money to pay the doctors.
On one occasion, after a certain doctor had taken care of him and nursed him back to health, Vincent wanted to
show his gratitude in his own way. He painted the doctor’s portrait and made him a present of it. However, the doctor
didn’t think much of the painting. He accepted it alright but
put it in his attic. There it took the place of a broken
windowpane, serving the purpose of keeping out the drafts.
The doctor threw away a treasure. Today, Van Gogh’s
paintings are almost beyond price.
In his love for us God has given each of us a great
treasure – the treasure of our divine dignity as children. Let
us be careful lest we throw it away.
Whoever has ears ought to hear!

There was once a woman whose only son died. In her grief, she
went to a holy man and said, “What prayers, what magical incantations
do you have to bring my son back to life?”
Instead of sending her away or reasoning with her, he said to her,
“Fetch me a mustard seed from a home that has never known sorrow.
We will use it to drive the sorrow out of your life.”
The women set off at once in search of the magical mustard seed.
She came first to a splendid mansion, knocked at the door and said, “I
am looking for a home that has never known sorrow. Is this such a
place? It is very important to me.”
They told her, “You’ve certainly come to the wrong place,” and
began to describe all the tragic things that had recently befallen them.
The women said to herself, “Who is better able to help these
unfortunate people than I, who have had misfortune of my own?” She stayed to comfort them, and then went on in her search for a home that
had never known sorrow.
But wherever she turned, in hovels and in palaces, she found one
tale after another of sadness and misfortune. Ultimately, she became so
involved in ministering to other people’s grief that she forgot about her
quest for the magical mustard seed, never realizing that her small
gestures of care, and concern and compassion, had in fact, driven the
sorrow out of her life.
Lord, we spend so much energy frantically searching
for that magical elixir, that magical cure to take away
our grief, our loneliness, the hurting parts of our life
that need fixing. Help us remember today, this week,
that one small gesture on our part, a smile, a handshake,
a hug, a phone call, a short visit, a few encouraging
words….is the best medicine to bring about real healing for ourselves and for others. Amen