Given, day one

SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE

The Holy Week journey begins today -- from the glorious procession of Palm Sunday, to the intimacy and sorrow of Maundy Thursday, ending in betrayal and the cross of Good Friday. In this week's sacred journey, Jesus will live out the "final significance" of the words "For God so loved the world..." (John 3:16)

In his book, Life of the Beloved, Henri Nouwen writes:

We are chosen, blessed and broken so as to be given.

In the giving it becomes clear that we are chosen, blessed, and broken

not simply for our own sakes, but so that all we live

finds its final significance in its being lived for others.

Thus far on our retreat, we have considered what it means to be chosen, blessed and broken. This week we will reflect on how are we called to give. In my prayer and preparation, I have been drawn to the account of the feeding of five thousand when one boy's giving of his meager lunch is transformed into abundance.

The disciples were understandably skeptical, but the young boy's generous giving opened a door for the entire crowd of 5,000 people to be fed. There must have been others who brought food with them. Why didn't they offer to share? Perhaps the disciples and other adults viewed the situation as a logistical nightmare. Can you imagine seeing more than 5,000 men, women and children gathered together, late in the day, tired and hungry?

When Jesus asks Philip where they might buy bread (testing him), Philip tells him it would take a half year's wages to buy enough bread to give everyone just a bite. And it would surely be understandable for any man or woman sitting there to wonder how sharing their personal lunch could possibly help feed such a huge crowd. Perhaps the boy's young age helped free him of the limitations an adult might feel, and instead, he could simply offer what he had -- five small rolls and two fish. Perhaps it was his innocence that allowed him to be used as a blessing by Jesus.

Through the blessing, breaking and giving that day, 5000 people were fed. What began as one boy's small lunch, became twelve baskets full of leftovers.

Loaves and Fishes

This is not the age of information.

This is not the age of information.

Forget the news, and the radio, and the blurred screen.

This is the time of loaves and fishes.

People are hungry, and one good word is bread for a thousand.

David Whyte

Certainly information is not a bad thing. We need useful information to help us act effectively. But finally -- after we have watched enough TV, read enough books, and listened to enough news reports -- it is time to give what we can. People are hungry. And, as Whyte writes, "one good word" can feed a thousand. What "word" is needed now in the the world around us? Many of us feel very sad, but also powerless.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta is quoted as saying "We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love." She took her name - and this wisdom - from St. Therese of Lisieux, often called the "The Little Flower of Jesus." Born in 1873 in France, Therese joined a cloistered Carmelite order as a teenager and died at 24 of tuberculosis.

Of St. Therese, author Kate Bowler writes, "There is nothing particularly extraordinary about her life, except the remarkable way that she decided to respond. When she learned that she would die, she decided that her ordinary life (with its limited scope and span) would be lived with limitless love. She called it "the little way.""

St. Therese wrote: Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers, and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love...

To the right and to the left, I throw to my little birds the good grain that God places in my hands. And then I let things take their course! I busy myself with it no more. Sometimes, it's just as though I had thrown nothing; at other times, it does some good. But God tells me: 'Give, give always, without being concerned with the results'.

Little Things with Great Love (written by Audrey Assad, sung by Madison Cunningham)

In the garden of our Savior No flower grows unseen His kindness rains like water On every humble seed No simple act of mercy escapes His watchful eye For there is One who loves me His hand is over mine In the kingdom of the heavens No suffering is unknown Each tear that falls is holy Each breaking heart a throne There is a song of beauty in every weeping eye For there is One who loves me His heart, it breaks with mine O the deeds forgotten O the works unseen Every drink of water flowing graciously Every tender mercy You’re making glorious This You have asked of us: Do little things with great love This You have asked of us: Do little things with great love Little things with great love

At the table of our Savior No mouth will go unfed And His children in the shadows Stream in and raise their heads O give us ears to hear them and give us eyes that see For there is One who loves them I am His hands and feet There is One who loves them I am His hands and feet

You and I would dance for joy were we to know truly that we, little people, are chosen, blessed, and broken to become bread that will multiply itself in the giving.

(H. Nouwen)

Questions to ponder:

1) How might your understanding of a person or situation limit what you give?

2) What is "one good word" you need to hear today?

What "word" would you like to share with others?

3) What small things have you been called to do with great love?

What flowers could you scatter along the way?

What "good grain" can you throw and then release to God's use and blessing?

Resources:

Bowler, Kate. Good Enough, Convergent Books (Random House), New York, NY 2022.

Nouwen, Henri, Life of the Beloved, Crossroad Publishing, New York, NY 1992.

St. Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, trans. by Taylor, Middlesex, Echo Library, 2006.

Whyte, David, The House of Belonging, Many Rivers Press, Langley WA, 1997.