God provides!

The WORD in Other Words by Fr Fred Saniel SVD (Philippines) for Tuesday After Epiphany

Celebrating their 50th year of married life, a couple shared their life experiences   of being very poor to being simply poor. Living a life of worries about food, clothing   and shelter, they had been kept together only by their faith in God and in themselves,   for as long as they remained together, God will provide. 

With their five children finishing college and are now gainfully employed, they are wondering how they had   been able to accomplish an almost impossible feat. Their rice container was never empty; an extra job came along when they needed more money for their children; they   never had any serious illness despite the hard life. They are still simply poor but no   longer very poor. God provides! 

The gospel miracle of the multiplication of five loaves and two fish   that fed more than five thousand is a miracle that also happens in the concrete realities   of human life. Have we ever wondered why in an effort to make both ends meet,   despite seemingly impossible at first, we somehow survive and, at times, with some   leftovers for a rainy day? Faith in God and in ourselves enables us to do so. 

Filipinos   believe that nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa, meaning that God helps those   who help themselves. This is faith in divine providence! We can only offer to God the   simplicity of our poverty. Despite the lack of material wealth, we can enjoy the blessed   fruits of togetherness and solidarity with our loved ones and with others. 

As long as   faith moves us to offer God the little that we have — our five loaves and two fish — God   can multiply them a hundredfold. In simple living, we give space for God to work  wonders in our lives.



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