We All Need a Lift

A Reflection on the Gospel of John 6:1-15 – 12 April 2024

   There are great advantages to living in an apartment that is six floors up. My wife and I lived in an apartment for two years that sat at the edge of a cliff. The view, even from the fourth floor, was stunning. Even though we did not have a balcony, I would like to sit and just wonder at the view and my blessings.

The problem with the apartment was the stairs. There were days, especially grocery day, when you would count the cost of the climb, look at the eight flights of stairs, and just give a great ugh! How often do we look at worldly obstacles and just say; “there is no way I could ever overcome it.” We calculate the cost.

     St Therese of Lisieux is my favorite Doctor of the Church. Her simplicity and humility enhance the clarity with which she expresses spiritual truth. She too had a problem with stairs, her inability to ever achieve the holiness needed to climb to heaven. She writes,

For me to become great is impossible. I must bear with myself and my many imperfections; but I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way—very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new. We live in an age of inventions; nowadays the rich need not trouble to climb the stairs, they have lifts instead. Well, I mean to try and find a lift by which I may be raised unto God, for I am too tiny to climb the steep stairway of perfection. (St Thérèse of Lisieux, 136)

     She determines that the “lift” required, the elevator, are the arms of Jesus. It is His grace alone, the lift, which is her hope. For her part, she must have the humility, to remain “little.” Childlike, not childish, humility, faith, and trust, as small as it is, with the Lord’s grace, is all that is needed.

Thine Arms, then, O Jesus, are the lift which must raise me up even unto Heaven. To get there I need not grow; on the contrary, I must remain little, I must become still less.
(St Thérèse of Lisieux, 136)

     In the Gospel today, we hear of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Jesus expresses His concern for the feeding of the people who have followed Him out into the wilderness. We hear proclaimed,

When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little." (John 6:5–7 NABRE)

     When Moses led the people through the desert, God sent them the gift of manna. But he placed conditions on it: “Thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not” (Exodus 16:4 NABRE). Jesus is offering the same test to Philip. The test is, will you only think in terms of worldly limitations or will you, in humility, place your trust and faith in God’s unlimited grace?

     Saints Philip, Peter, and Andrew unfortunately, failed the test. The world limits grace, not God. It is then that Jesus takes what little we have to offer and multiplies that littleness with overflowing grace to feed well more than 5000 with five barley loaves and two fish. God’s grace is a gift with which God empowers us to do the impossible. Jesus tells the disciples later in the same chapter of St John’s Gospel,

Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” (John 6:27 NABRE)

     God offers us the grace to conquer even death. Our part is to accept this gift, which we can never deserve, with humility, faith, and trust. When we trust in the world, we feed ourselves with what is perishable. When we receive God’s grace, especially when He feeds us with His imperishable divinity in the Eucharist, He overcomes all for us. He is risen! Alleluia!

     When life seems to overwhelm and you just don’t feel that you can climb one more step on those stairs, those obstacles that the world throws in our path, recall with joy that He who conquers even death for us, is there to lift us up with His almighty arms. He feeds us with himself and fills us with grace. Who are we to place limitations on God’s abundant grace? Lord feed us! Our humility, faith, and trust, our five loaves and two fish, is enough with your grace.

When you find yourself tired and exhausted, approach Our Lord confidently, as that good friend of ours did, and say: “Jesus, see what you can do about it. Even before I begin to fight, I am already tired.” He will give you his strength.
(St Josemaría Escrivá 244)

Endnotes

St Josemaría Escrivá. The Forge. Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.

New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011. Print.

St Thérèse of Lisieux, and T. N. Taylor. The Story of a Soul. London: Burns and Oates, 1912. Print.