less is more

Parish Hosting of the Visit of the Diocesan Youth Cross
5th Asian Youth Day Preparations

The theme of the 5th YAsia Fiesta is taken from the gospel of John, the multiplication of the 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread.

In the story, multitudes were following Jesus. They were seeking something, they must have been looking all their lives and now they believed that it is Jesus who can satisfy their desire, their thirst, their hunger.

Today, there are still many who are seeking, especially the young people. Many try to fill one’s time with schedules and one’s space with people and things. Some try to find answers in gadgets and material belongings. Others seek answers through friends and endless parties. A few tried the painful and confusing path of just trying to ask the right questions. A few discovers that speeding up one’s life will not really deliver what one has been waiting for.

I think that these seeking is fueled by the sincere desire to discover the meaning of one’s life, of one’s place in the world. The hesitation though to embrace the sole answer that stares us in the face everyday, the presence of Christ in the cross, stems from the distrust of the truth that it is in giving up everything that we will be filled and blessed. There is the distrust in one’s capacity to be generous. Many grasp, even grab for more, ending up with the feeling that no matter how one works hard for a year’s wage, it will still not suffice for one’s needs and wants let alone for others. There is that discomforting distrust in the gospel truth that 2 fishes and 5 loaves freely offered from one’s heart and hands is more than enough, it is all that the Lord needs.

We have the mistaken notion that when God asks us to offer all that we are, we have to have more in order to offer more when in fact we already have what God desires - our heart. We often think less of ourselves, of who we are when in fact, all we have to do is to wholeheartedly offer the 2 fishes and 5 loaves of our broken lives to God, that we may be broken and shared, that with the Lord, we may feed the hungry multitudes with who we are not just with what we have.

One of the youth's closing songs captured the message perfectly...

"Nothing in this world can satisfy me
Jesus, You alone can fill me up
I could gain the world and all it's treasures
But all those things would never be enough

It is Your love, it is Your goodness
It is Your kindness and compassion
That fills me up inside
It is Your grace, Your tender mercies
It is Your presence in my life
That satisfies..."