The
world we live in makes it very easy to be cynical. There are
explanations for so many things, and people are quick to dismiss what
cannot be proved. The miracle of the multiplication of loaves and
fish is one that I have often heard explained away too. Today I would
like to tell you about a similar miracle which happened quite
recently.
The
city of Juares, in Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, is
currently considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world,
with constant killings because of the drug wars. In 1972 a priest by
the name of Fr. Rick Thomas and a sister Maria Virginia, were the
instruments of an amazing miracle.
In
1964 Fr Richard Thomas, a Jesuit, had been appointed to El Paso. Around 1969/1970 he was profoundly touched by God and started
charismatic prayer meetings in the parish. Sr. Maria Virginia, DC,
was also an inspired leader. During one prayer meeting in 1972 they
read the passage in Luke 14:12-14 which says,
When
you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your
brothers or your relations, or rich neighbors, in case they invite
you back and so repay you. When you have a party, invite the poor…
for they have no means to repay you and so you will be repaid when
the upright rise again.
The
prayer group decided that on Christmas day that year, 1972, they
would provide a Christmas lunch to the poor who lived and worked in
the dump in Juárez. The poor people in the dump used to separate the
rubbish into various types, cans, bottles, cardboard etc and then
sell it to a co-op which would in turn sell it on. They lived in the
dump and worked 7 days a week for $5. The prayer group had prepared
food for 125 people on Christmas Day. When they got to the dump Fr
Richard and the group discovered that they had two labor unions or
trade unions. One union could not go into the other’s area.
Eventually Fr Richard got them to come together in one area for the
food. Three hundred and fifty people turned up, so Fr Richard
explained that there was not enough food for everyone, but they would
share what they had. All 350 had enough food; the dump people took
some food home and then came back for more, again and again.
Afterwards, there was food left over, so much so that Fr Richard and
the prayer group took the leftovers to three orphanages.
According
to Father Richard, he and those who were there have encountered the
inexplicable multiplication of food on dozens of occasions — right
up to today; at times aware of what is happening, in other cases
noticing the miracle when they count up items in retrospect. In
another example 350 cans of milk were brought to the poor, but every
one of 500 who came actually got one. Sacks of flour have produced
flour as if from an endless supply — to the shock of those handing
it out. They have even taken measurements of what was removed and it
simply doesn’t add up.
What
happened was this: Fr. Rick and the others who worked with him were
praying and they felt that the Lord was telling them to go to one of
the prisons with food for Christmas day. So they decided they
would do just that and they brought what they thought would be enough
food, but in fact they were seriously short. However, they just began
cutting up the food and distributing it anyway and the food began to
multiply, although they didn’t realise it for a while. They ended
up having enough to feed all the prisoners and all the staff as well.
They had also decided to go to one of the city dumps and bring a
Christmas dinner for the hundreds of people there who live off the
dump trying to find something to sell or reuse. They brought enough
for about 150 people, but in fact 3 times that number turned up.
Again they just started cutting up the food and distributing it, but
no matter how much they gave out there was more food. The food was
miraculously multiplying. Not only were they able to feed all those
who turned up, but they had so much left over that it took them three
days to get rid of all that was left over. There is a video of this
available called ‘Viva Christo Re.’ Fr. Rick Thomas died in
2006.
One
of the reasons I want to tell you about this miracle is to help you
to believe that this miracle of the loaves and fishes, which we have
just heard about, was real. I have sometimes heard it being explained
away and people saying that in fact all that happened was that people
were so embarrassed when they saw the little boy giving his food,
that they produced their own food. It is sad when people rationalise
the miracles of Jesus, as though nothing really extraordinary
happened. If nothing extraordinary happened the accounts of them
wouldn’t have survived 2000 years. These miracles were real
and they have been passed on to us to help us to believe and to
understand what the teaching of Jesus is all about.
What
is even more important than the miracles themselves is what they
point to. In John’s Gospel the miracles are continually referred to
as ‘signs’. Jesus worked these signs and his
disciples believed in him. All the miracles were pointing to who
Jesus was, that He is the Son of God and to help those with him (and
us) to believe in his teaching. His teaching is about the reality of
God and the afterlife; that God is interested in us in a very
personal way; and that God is very much with us. These are not just
pious stories, but events that happened, so that we might believe.
When
you think of a place like Mexico and the dire poverty that is there
(a kind of poverty that we simply don’t have here) wouldn’t it
seem to make more sense if the Lord worked a miracle of giving all
these people work, or a better way of life? But instead the Lord gave
them this miracle, this sign of his presence among them. It was a way
of saying that ‘I am here among you and concerned for you..’ This
gave them hope and courage and faith. Apparently after the miracle of
food in the prison the whole place was completely transformed, staff
and prisoners. They witnessed the supernatural and it gave them hope
and a new purpose in their life. This hope is much more important
than our physical needs, because hope gives the strength to endure,
and to be strong in hard times.
The
miracles of Jesus are also meant to help us in the same way; to
encourage us, to give us hope and to remind us that Jesus Christ is
Lord, the one Lord, who is with us and looking after us.
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