Finding Peace Within

I wonder if you have ever experienced a time when you needed, or were strengthened or nourished, by another person? Alternatively, it might have been you who were there for a person who needed your help or strength or wisdom? Perhaps all they needed was your presence to support them – or to be someone who would listen to them as they worked through what they needed to do? Or they may have turned to you for some practical help, and your offering made all the difference in whatever crisis they were facing? You may not have thought or seen your contribution as life-giving, but as Mahatma Gandhi once said:

The Gospel will be more powerful when practised.... A rose does not need to preach. It simply spreads its fragrance. The fragrance is its own sermon…the fragrance of religious and spiritual life is much finer and subtler than that of the rose.” ^1.

Over the last few Blogs we have been exploring this topic in many different ways as we have reflected on the Disciple John's attempt to convey his experience and understanding of some of the significant moments he had experienced with Jesus. In the process we have seen how Jesus willingly shared his wisdom with a wide variety of people – from those who held the highest local authority in their community and who, by and large, were forever challenging his words and actions – to the poorest people within their community and who hung on every word Jesus spoke.

Not an easy task for Jesus nor for John, nor for us because often, the only way for us to enter into the realm of spiritual language, and share and understand what we have  experienced is through the gateway of metaphors, and images.^2.

John was not alone in trying to faithfully record the things Jesus said and did so that we, centuries later, using quite a different language and speech pattern, can still engage with the wisdom Jesus shared both then and now, as we, in our turn, ponder over what he is saying to us today, in our time and culture. And the authors of our Gospels were not alone in dealing with that challenge. Take, for example, the metaphors for faith – a concept that lies at the heart of Jesus Teaching – offered by the following authors:

• Khalil Gibran – “Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking”.

• Helen Keeler – “Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light”.

• Martin Luther King – “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase”.

We see a similar challenge happening over and over again with the fishermen-disciples Jesus chose to train and whose responsibility it was to share his teachings after his death. Perhaps that is why we have at least four differing records (or Gospels) of Jesus' life, ministry and teachings.However, at it's heart, faith is always a challenge, because it's about building relationships. It includes sharing one's self with those in need. It includes being open with those who might challenge us or with those we may not instinctively like! But most importantly, it is also about building a living and ongoing relationship with our Spiritual Source...and this is essential, because our divine source has the power to transform our life, and that is why it is so important... and because we can only share what we have received and internalized for ourselves.

Spirituality is not about how much time we may spend in prayer or in meditation, nor how often we might go to church. Spirituality is about our willingness and capacity to be guided, and our willingness to be actively engaged with our spiritual source. This is the main reason why Jesus called us into relationship with himself. In him we find and are fed with the food our souls long for – and which is given to us to share – like the fragrance of fresh bread.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1. Dkhar,  Damankhraw. R.:Mahatma Gandhi and Christianity                                                https://theshillongtimes.com/2021/01/30/mahatma-gandhi-and-christianity/

2. Elliot,M: Universalistic Style of the Gospel of John                                                                   https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/universalistic-style-gospel-john

                                                     Food for Thought

Hélène Schumacher once wrote an article for BBC where she suggested that the vocabulary we have acquired over the years actually helps us understand the world around us. However, we have become so familiar with the metaphors that are woven intricately into the tapestry of our language “we often don’t even notice them, but metaphors and similes help us think more deeply – and make sense of the world around us” ¹

We all have built up our own unique vocabulary and collection of favourite words and phrases. However, in using metaphorical language to enrich our conversations can raise it's own issues; if, for example, the listener doesn't understand the metaphor or simile, or if they take it literally – they run the risk of missing the point we were making.

My recent Blogs have been exploring the metaphor of 'Bread', for example. During my research for this particular Blog, I came across an article written by Peter Reinhart. Reinheart is both a baker of bread and also a master of metaphor. For him, bread is at the same time the “staff of life for our bodies” but also the “staff of life for our souls”.²

You will be aware that bread has been a staple food for centuries and has come to represent sustenance, nourishment, and survival. It has also accumulated many other associations. For example, it has been a symbol of comfort, community and sacrifice and has also been associated with plenty, poverty, redemption, temptation and transformation.³

Bread has also been a common symbol of comfort, and a symbol of communion – as found and used in the Christian Eucharist or Mass.

The “Sharing bread” or “Breaking of Bread” with family, friends or strangers has also been considered as an act of generosity and hospitality. When Jesus fed 5000 people with a boy's lunch is one example, and whether we take this Bible story literally, or prefer to see the boy's simple generosity of offering to Jesus his packed lunch, stimulated a similar wave of generosity amongst the crowd as they all began to share the food they had brought with those around them so everyone was fed⁴.

In many cultures Bread has become a symbol of life, growth, renewal and plenty–however it also has its dark-side when bread has been associated with hardship and oppression, as well as gluttony, greed, and excess. I wonder what association bread holds for you? And this is not a random question, because the word 'Bread' has been used as a metaphor throughout the history of humankind.

For example, it is a reoccurring theme in the early Hebrew writings where it occurs over 492 times and carries a deep spiritual significance and holding a wealth of symbolism. It particularly represents God’s provision, spiritual nourishment, salvation and forgiveness. We find it's importance woven into both the Jewish and Christian faiths, and is recorded within their respective sacred writings where bread served as a reminder of God’s faithfulness, grace, and provision; and we have been reflecting on this understanding, as presented to us by the author of John's Gospel, during the last few Blogs where we have been reflecting on the question: “What nourishes our life, what inspires my hearts' delight? What speaks to our soul? What inspires me, and enables me to experience the abundant life of which Jesus spoke?

Whether we choose to understand that promise physically or symbolically– in the end this week's reading from John 's Gospel (Ch 6:35, 41-51) reminds us of our dependence on God and God's continuous care for us.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200710-the-words-that-stretch-how-we-think

2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Reinhart

3https://edenbengals.com/what-does-bread-symbolize-in-literature/

4Matthew 14:13-21

                    For What Do We Hunger?

In his week's Gospel we are given another slice, if you like, of the bread of life.

In fact for 5 weeks in a row we have slowly sliced our way through John 6. It began with the feeding of the 5000 followed by John's meditation on the life and mission of Jesus. In the process John used the metaphor of 'Bread', and in my recent Blogs we have been exploring the implications of Jesus being the 'Bread of Life'.

However – there is yet more! There are three more slices from the same loaf¹ waiting for us to sample as we continue our way through the readings set for August!

The repetition of bread as a metaphor of Jesus' life and ministry certainly raises interesting and contemporary questions – For example: 'What personal metaphor would we choose to describe our life's purpose?– What difference do our gifts and the vision for our life make in our life and the life of the wider community in which we live?

While you may spend time pondering those questions – I also came across a number of metaphors for Bread

• Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”

• Louis Bromfield, American novelist (1896-1956) “Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad but bread is king.” 

• Sarah Josepha Hale, 'The Good Housekeeper' (1839): “Among those kinds of food which the good housekeeper should scrupulously banish from her table, is that of hot leavened bread....I believe it more often lays the foundation of diseases of the stomach, than any other kind of nourishment, used among us.” ( Maybe Bread has it's dark side as well!)

• And finally, The New World campaign featured a real estate agent who uses smell of fresh bread to sell a house

These brief comments remind us of the power and significance bread has even when used as a metaphor. Perhaps one reason for this is because people have used and relied on bread for more than fifty centuries and 'Every morning the world wakes up hungry' ² which is a reminder that to know the story of Bread also means to know also something of our world and its history and its ongoing progress. We find a very similar thing happening when we widen our focus and include the significance the bread when it is used as a metaphor as Jesus did:

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, 

and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

When Jesus used bread as a metaphor, he was quoting an ancient reference that has it roots in the early Jewish writings (or Midrash). For example:

• In the Jewish story of Moses, he is recorded as being given Manna (a miraculous edible substance that fell from heaven each day and sustained the Hebrew ancestors physically and also renewed their faith in God's presence and guidance during their slow 40 year journey through the wilderness.

• In the Jewish story of Elijah, when he needed renew hope and vision to continue his life of faith, he also received food (or Manna) from heaven to sustain him on his journey to meet with God.

• In a similar way, when composing his Gospel, John poetically used the historic Hebrew concept of Manna – which would be freely understood by his contemporary Jewish readers – to symbolized Jesus, as being “the living bread”– or “the bread of life” – sent by God from heaven – which we also need to receive so that our hope might be renewed and our faith be sustained through the struggles and disappointments we face in our life.

In his book 'How to Believe Again' , Helmut Thielicke (the Professor of Theology at Hamberg University), gave these answers when questioned on “What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?”

• When Jesus first called his disciples – there were no 4 Spiritual Laws the Disciples had to first memorize – Jesus simply invited them to “Come and learn from me” and in that way they began a shared life together.

• Or when a person came to Jesus with a genuine need, Jesus had no catechism of right answers they had to learn before he would listen to them or speak to them– because while their need may have helped them to start their journey of faith, in the end it was the person of Jesus that fulfilled their hunger – or as St Augustine of Hipo said many centuries later :

“We would not be able to seek God if God had not already found us”.

Surely that simple statement summarizes the whole message of the Jewish-Christian Faith!

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1John Chapter 4

2Barker, E.L., 1911, The story of bread, International Harvester Company, Chicago. http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.25970   

 

Food for the Hungry

Richard Rohr once suggested that “all language about God is necessary symbolic and figurative”¹ and while the Bible contains a wide variety of literary forms, this is certainly true for Sunday's Gospel reading (John 6:24-35), where Jesus described himself as being the “bread of life”:

“Jesus said ...I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never by hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”! (John 6:35).

If we find this saying of Jesus is a little hard to understand, no wonder his audience though Jesus had lost the plot: and they began to complain about him because they were well aware of who his parents, and his brothers and sisters were (v41).

Yet the author of John's Gospel often quotes Jesus as using metaphorical forms of speech. We find this, for example, in John 16:5-7, when Jesus told his disciples he wouldn't be with them forever:

“In a little while you will see me no more,

and then after a little while you will see me.”

Such language also puzzled his disciples:

(“We don’t understand what he is saying!” John 16v16).

Yet Jesus often used metaphorical language. For example, when he told his disciples that he was a vine and that they were branches, he was making an important and significant point because a vine has an organic relationship and its branches – it is never static. Out of necessity it changes and grows, it has its seasons of flourishing and fruitfulness, and other-times it needs to withdraw, to be pruned, and to be content with a time of waiting. Such a metaphor also acknowledges that our life also has it seasons; that our life is never static; we also experience moments of joy and sadness, hope and disappointment, we also have our triumphs and challenges.

In some ways, I find comfort in the difficulty the disciples and the Jewish leaders had in trying to follow, or even understand what Jesus was saying sometimes, or planning to do next! And if you and I find that so, we are in good company, because our journey of faith will have its seasons of doubts and darkness, and sometimes we also may end up wondering “Has my faith – or my religious practice – been worth it?”

There are a variety of reasons that may cause such moments:

• they maybe due to cultural differences, or because slowly we suddenly discover the faith we once had, that may have been shaped by our early years of Christian teaching, has now lost its freshness;

• or it's ability to support us through the challenges life has thrown at us; or we way have built up our own understanding of who Jesus was and is for us based on our own wants, desires or needs.

• Then the time comes when we discover that we no longer believe what we once found meaningful; or such a faith has become too difficult or it demanding for us – just it it had for many of Jesus disciples who simply gave up on Jesus and walked away (John 6:60,66). Perhaps they failed to grasp what Jesus meant when he described himself as being “The Bread of Life”?

While we may also experience such moments in our life – one part thing that stands out in John 6 is that Jesus wasn't the first to walk away. And when Jesus turned asked his disciples whether they wanted to follow the crowd and leave him as well, Peter replied

“To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life and we have come to know you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:67-69).

While we may have some sympathy for those who left Jesus, because the claims Jesus made when, for example, he said he was the 'Bread of Life', were not meant to be taken literally – they we not meant as to be academic ideas for his listeners (including us) to take away and ponder or argue over. That was never his intention – because, in a very real sense, when Jesus' words are simply repeated, or discussed, or even argue over, we also run the risk of simply defining the vocabulary of our religious faith – rather than actively creating or developing our faith.

I suggest such language and imagery is deliberately obtuse so that if we are interested enough we will take the imagery and metaphor's away and begin to ponder what was Jesus meaning – and more significantly – what is Jesus saying to me today, in all that is happening in my life, right now, when he described himself as being 'the Bread of Life'?.

It is also important to note he was not saying he had come to to give us bread – but he came to be our bread. And in case we miss the point, Jesus repeats himself again in verses 48, and again in verse 51:

I am the bread of life...This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:48-51)

So I found the challenge Jesus was offering to his listeners (and us) was to reflect on the nature of our life and the values we seek to live by. Or to put it in another way, Jesus didn't come to meet our wants and desires, he came to change our wants and desires so as we seek to follow him and grow our living relationship with him, we allow his to become the central focus of our existence.

“Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you,” (John 6:27)

It is as we allow this to happen, we discover that we have also grown closer to our spiritual understanding and appreciation of all the ways that a faith in God is enriching our life as he becomes our Focus, our Way, and our Guide..

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1'All Language is Metaphor' from Richard Rohr, https://cac.org/daily-meditations/all-language-is-metaphor-2017-01-11/

 

The Fragrance of New Bread

My last Blog was about the Gospel story of Jesus accepting a small boy's lunch. Jesus blessed the lunch, broke it, and then shared it among a crowd of hungry people. The Gospel reading for this week and next week will continue to unpack the richness and meaning that lie behind that story.

As I read this Sunday's reading from John 6:24-51, I was reminded of a local baker's shop near where we live. They are especially busy on a Sunday morning, and when I have passed the bakery there is usually a line of eager shoppers all waiting their turn to share the source of that mouth-watering fragrance that surrounds the shop.

A similar source that can also fill one's home with a mouth-watering fragrance is a bread maker. Those who own one will be familiar with the smell of newly cooked fresh bread that fills the house and stirs your appetite especially when you arrive home hungry!

The human response to such wonderful food-fragrances can also affect the way be behave towards other people. Perhaps it was with this in mind that the University of Southern Brittany in France decided to study the effect food fragrances have on human behaviour¹. The experimental group included eight students (4 men and 4 women). They were divided into two groups. One group stood outside a bakery and the other group stood outside a clothing boutique. When they saw someone approaching, they were to start rummaging in their shopping bag, and in the process to deliberately drop an item onto the footpath. A second student noted the response made by the approaching pedestrian.

The results of this simple experiment revealed more than three quarters of the pedestrians were willing to stop and help the volunteers standing outside the bakery to retrieve the dropped item. However, only half the pedestrians bothered to stop to retrieve the fallen item for the students who were outside the clothes shop.

The study concluded that certain fragrances, such as the smell of freshly baked bread, can trigger a positive mood response and so the person will feel more willing to help someone else.

The reason for referring to this study is because in this weeks Gospel reading Jesus uses the image of bread as metaphor to describe the life and service he has to offer anyone who is willing to stop and become involved in who he is and in what he has to offer:

“I am the bread of life (Jesus said). Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”(John 6:35)

Jesus was not first person to use such a metaphor. Because it also occurs in the early Hebrew story about Elijah who is given the food to sustain him on his journey to meet with God (1 Kings 17:7-16). It is a story that also contains several layers of meaning, because it doesn't just refer to Elijah being physically hungry. Elijah had come to a turning point in his life. He was living in a time when it seemed that those faithful to God had slipped away and he thought he was the only one left. In those dark moments, God did not rebuke Elijah for his doubts, instead God met his needs and provided for him. The story reaches a climax when Elijah enters a cave and experiences a powerful encounter with God. Yet God didn't reveal himself in a life-shattering way, rather it was in the “sound of sheer silence” – and that experience was enough to remind Elijah that even in his moments of doubt and despair, God was still with him, and with this knowledge he was able to continue his life's mission to become one of the greatest prophets and miracle workers in the Hebrew scriptures.

As I pondered over these stories, the questions they raised for me included: 'What is it that we really want in our lives – deep down inside us? What do we hunger for? What would bring new life and hope and energy into our lives, or into our relationships, or revitalize our religious faith?

The Gospel reading for this week tells us that Jesus is the bread of life. That Jesus was been sent by God to become our spiritual food, to breath new life, new hope and renewed energy into our faith, so that we might have the courage and strength to support and sustain us on our life's journey. Jesus invites us to receive this renewed hope and vision that he offers to us, especially when we feel worn and weary. And he offers us more – he promises to walk beside us, and to fill our life with new meaning and purpose as he guides us into, and through, all that the future may hold in-store for us.

The German Theologian and one-time professor of Theology at Hamberg University, Helmut Thielicke, wrote a book titled 'How to Believe Again'. His writing has become a source of support for many people, especially in helping them to realise the questions they ask are often neither new or unique. And that our human capacity to think and reason, while it may point us towards truth, simply cannot carry us through all the commitments and relationships we may be forced to face in life.

He goes on to remind us that the one story in the Gospels where Jesus marvels at a person's 'great faith' wasn't to anyone who had a deep religious faith, rather it was to a person their Jewish culture treated as an outsider: a Canaanite woman who came pleading for her daughter's healing (Matthew 15: 21-28).

This story also contains many layers that includes the reference to bread. During their conversation the woman challenges Jesus as to who is entitled to eat bread. As their discussion ends, Jesus commends her for her 'Great Faith' because she was willing to cross the cultural, social and religious barriers that society and religion had imposed upon her. She was also willing to think outside the cultural square that would normally control her life. In doing so Jesus both heals her daughter and commends her as a woman of great faith because she had she discover something St Augustine said many years later:“we would not be able to seek God if God had not already found us”.

The same is potentially true for us as well – for God is never distant from us, and our life story, because God is already within us “nearer than our hands or feet” – especially when and if we do not know it.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-smell-of-fresh-baked_n_2058480

 

The Lesson of the Kauri Tree

In my last Blog (The Miracle of Compassion) I began by referring to the time I spent living and working in a residential Franciscan Community in the U.S.A. After a period of time I returned to New Zealand and later spent a number of years living with the First Order Franciscans in Hamilton, NZ. One of the memories I have from that time was the Kauri Tree that had been, planted in the front Garden of the Friary in memory of a young girl who died some years earlier. Each day, I walked pass the Kauri tree on my way to the chapel, when one morning I noticed a Kauri cone lying on the grass under the tree. What caught my attention was the beautiful dark mahogany-brown colour of the seed pod. For me, it was one of those profound moments that stirred my curiosity and led me to want to know more about the tree.

The Kauri tree (Agathis australis) is one of the world's largest, oldest, and mightiest trees. It can grow up to 50 metres tall and 16 metres wide, and they can live for more than 2,000 years. No wonder in Maori Mythology the Kauri tree is referred to as “Tane Mahuta” (which means “God of the Forest”): who separates the masculine sky from the feminine earth and allows light to shine upon the world of human kind.

Each tree also produces both male and female cones. The male cones ripen first and release their pollen, to be carried by the wind and fertilise the female cones. Then when the female cones are fully mature they release the 100 or so winged seeds within each cone which are spread by the wind.

In one sense, each of these seeds are like a little piece of eternity because each tree has the potential of living for thousands of years in their natural environment. However, the seeds don't stay fertile forever. They need to fall into the soil so they might grow, because eight months after it's release the seed's chance of ever sprouting slowly diminishes.

In it's own way the seed reminds us that we also need to 'seize the day' (carpe diem) – we also need to make use of the opportunities that arise for us in our daily life – as and when they arise – because time doesn't stand still for us either and those opportunities also pass away!

The Sunday's Gospel reading set for this week from John, is very similar to last week's reading from Mark. Both authors record the story of Jesus feeding a large number of hungry people from a seemingly small resource (a boys lunch) and in Jesus' hands the food become a 'Eucharistic feast' as Jesus takes the boy's gift, blesses it, breaks it and and invites the disciples to divide it among the crowd of people. In doing so Jesus initiates the generosity of compassion and hospitality that encouraged a similar response from the crowd, so all were fed, and all were satisfied, and nothing was lost or waisted.

The repetition of a similar Gospel story two weeks in a row reminds us that this miracle is worth retelling because we can be a bit slow to 'let the truth reveal itself' or to 'let the light to shine into our awareness'.

Ultimately, this story is not about people receiving a free lunch! Rather, it is given to remind us that we can never out give the generosity of God – which is similar to something Julian of Norwich, once wrote:

“(God) showed a little thing the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand as it seemed to me, and it was as round as any ball. I looked therein with the eye of my understanding, and thought: “What may this be?” And it was answered generally thus: “It is all that is made.” I marvelled how it might last, for it seemed to me it might suddenly have fallen into nought for its littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: “It lasts and ever shall, because God loves it.” ¹

The mystery of the Divine Presence always surrounds each one of us. The challenge for me is while I may not always notice that presence, or have the time to stop and contemplate it's meaning, am I willing to try and live with a generous heart and an open mind to all that God – or the the Universe – wishes to say to me? Would this also be true for you?

If so, am I willing to make time regularly to engage in that mystery? Because, as Alfred Lord Tennyson once suggested, we are all invited to:

“Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet

Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1https://www.juliansvoice.com/veronicas-blog/julian-and-the-hazelnut

The Miracle of Compassion

While I was living in a Franciscan Community in Arkansas, USA, I recall watching a video one evening about a Parish Youth Group that decided to share Christmas Dinner with the poorest of the poor. The people lived and worked in a rubbish dump across the boarder in Mexico. The members of the Youth Group discussed how many people might turn up and much food they needed to take. In the end they decided that food for 150 people should be enough.

When they arrived at the rubbish dump they put up the portable tables they had brought and started started carving a large ham. This they offered together with other food they had brought with them. As the day turned to evening and the growing crowd of people had been fed, they discovered they still had enough food left to hand out for people to take home.

It was only at the end of the evening, as the members of the Youth Group were sitting around discussing the day, that they realized while they had brought enough food for only 150 people, over 300 people had been fed, and that there was still plenty of food left over to take to two orphanages!

However, the story didn't stop there. Among the helpers was a middle-aged U.S. postal worker named Frank Alarcon. He was so inspired by the need and poverty of those who had attended the Christmas meal, he decided when he retired he would offer his time to work at the community centre that had been set up at the dump – and in due course Frank became its director until his death in 2011.

While I found this story inspirational, it raised for me the question – 'Which was the real miracle?' Was it the feeding of the crowd on that Christmas Day in 1972? Or was it the transformation that happened Frank Alarcon's life? A transformation which inspired him to offer his time and energy and to work tirelessly and ultimately he ended up helping thousands of people?

We see a similar event to this miracle story in the Gospel reading set for next Sunday (21^st July - Mark 6:30-34, 53-56). In the edited text we hear how Jesus was moved by compassion for the needs of a crowd of people who gathered around him with their sick – begging him to heal them. At its heart this story also involves the miracle of compassionate generosity.

Jesus was aware that his disciples needed time out – however, when he saw the needs of the local people who crowded him, all clambering for him, Jesus stops and attends to their needs. However, the real miracle was not so much about the healing he offered but the transformation of people's lives that flowed from that healing. And that healing also included a group of overwhelmed and ungenerous disciples with “hardened hearts” – and this is where I find this Gospel story challenges me also. Jesus still needs us – including me – to be his hands and feet in our world, and if we respond to his invitation, it will quietly involve us to show the compassion and care of God to those we meet who are in need – and that might sound like a big commitment!

In the opening story, the Youth Group wanted to do something for the people who lived and worked at Rubbish Dump. By their generosity they sparked a change not only in the lives of the poor but also in their lives as well as in the life of a Postal Worker who offered the rest of his life to help those people and in doing so inspired others to join him.

If we were to visit that place today, we will find there is a small medical clinic built on the site of the Christmas party and attended by a doctor who comes four times a week. Next to the doctor's clinic is a pharmacy and a dental centre, where a dentist volunteers her services three days a week; and a day-care centre as well. And because they are working with people who have very little financial resources, if they can’t pay they are still treated and receive the medication and help and support they need.

At it's heart, this is a story about the miracle of compassionate generosity. Christ was there on that Christmas day – and transformation happened – and has continued to happen.

Christ is here with us – where we may find our rest – and with whom our hungry soul can be fed – as we become Christ's hands and feet to each other.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil