THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Her Doctrine and Morals

Fourth Sunday in Lent
Laetare Sunday

19 March 2023

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The Sunday

Sermon

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Dear Friends in Christ,

In today's Gospel reading (St. John 6. 1-15), Jesus feeds five thousand men with five barley loaves and two fishes. "They gathered up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above to them that had eaten." We see in this event the manifest providence of God. Often our faith is tested when we think that we are wanting in something. We see the meagerness of what we want or need and conclude that God does not care — or even worse, that there is no God. The demons suggest that if God truly loved us, we would not have to suffer, and we should have an abundance of everything.

The scarcity of food was not something that God was unaware of. Nothing happens without God knowing fully what is and will take place. He knows all things past, present, and future. He arranges everything for our good because He loves us. The crosses, difficulties, illnesses, etc., are all seen and willed by God for our own good. Like self-centered children, we often fail to see the purpose and rebel against God and those who genuinely love us.

Jesus knew what He would do, and there was no fear of the people starving from lack of food. We should frequently remind ourselves of the simple lessons in the Catechism. God made us to know, love, and serve Him in this world so that we may be happy with Him in Heaven. It is God's Will for us to go to Heaven, and He will give us everything necessary to get there. We must also trust that He knows what He is doing. We can easily conform our wills to His Holy Will with this confidence.

When we forget that God is watching over us and providing for us, we become filled with worry and fear. When we turn away from Him and attempt to take control in our own hands, we truly begin to suffer want or scarcity. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, we see that he had everything he needed while he was in his father's house. When he took his inheritance into his own hands, it was soon lost, and scarcity and privation set in. The same is true with the children of God. We are well provided for as long as we remain in Our Father's House. When we rebel and step out on our own, we fail and suffer the loss of everything.

God does give us material scarcity from time to time. It is not because He can't give us what we want; it is because He loves us and lays the path for us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Too often, the material things of this world are obstacles to our eternal salvation. Sometimes we suffer because we need to return in prayer to God. Without difficulties in our lives, we tend to forget God and the life of our souls.

Our crosses, sufferings, difficulties, sickness, trials, etc., are not punishments from God. They are, on the contrary, His blessings. They are corrections for some; for others, they guide us away from a destructive path and into a safer one. Our daily cross is a sign of God's love for us. The devil suggests to us that God is unjust for giving us a cross or that we do not deserve or need a cross. Jesus invites us to deny ourselves and take up our daily cross to follow Him. Without a cross or self-denial, we cannot truly follow Jesus, and then we cannot get into Heaven.

All things truly work for the good of those who love God. Poverty, suffering, and crosses are not evil but good things that God gives us to merit Heaven by working out our salvation in fear and trembling. When abundance is good for us, God showers us with much more than we could ever use. When scarcity or hunger is good for us, God also gives us that. We should start to see God's hand in everything and thank Him for the abundance, scarcity, pleasure, and pain. The only thing we need to fear is sin. Sin is the only real evil.

God fed the Israelites in the desert with manna from heaven. He provided the people in the desert with bread multiplied from a few loaves. In both cases, scarcity of food became overly abundant. And in both cases, the people were not permitted to be greedy or gluttonous, nor were they allowed to be wasteful. When we have a need, we can implore His help and even seek His help through the instrumentality of our neighbors. The boy with a few barley loaves and some fish became God's instrument for the many. When we have an abundance, we should not become avaricious or wasteful but instead, use our abundance to become God's instrument in coming to the aid of those in need.

May the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspire, guide, and protect us!