Friday in the Octave of Easter

Readings of the Day

Unlike Peter and John, commissioned to heal in Christ’s name, when we are faced with a poor man, crippled from birth, reaching out to us for help, we haven’t a miracle, but only the change in our pockets to offer. Sometimes, that isn’t enough.

Or is it?

Pope Saint Leo the Great once said that we should “not fear a lack of means. A generous spirit is itself great wealth.”

Remaining mindful that “faith without works is dead,” it seems we sometimes allow ourselves to forget that works without faith are limited; not limited by our means as much as by our vision (oh we of little faith!)

By offering literal healing to the man who had been crippled from birth, Peter and John not only instilled in him physical strength, but ignited in him true faith in the Son of God by whom, as the disciples declared, this gift had been given. Which of these two things was the greater gift?

For us, we must cast aside our doubts about His Providence, and offer Christ’s love along with whatever bread we have, with faith that like His love, which multiplies as it is divided, what we give will be enough.

“There can be no shortage of material for generosity,” Leo says, “where it is Christ who feeds and Christ who is fed.”

In today's Gospel, the seven in the boat listen to Christ's instruction and end up with a net too full of fish to pull in. Similarly, when we follow Christ’s teaching to serve His poor, to give happily from our own poverty, we (and they) will be blessed by His abundance.

Both the healer and the healed depend on the name and the grace of Our Lord.

Rise up and walk!

Timothy P Williams is National Formation Director, National Council of the United States, Society of St Vincent de Paul.

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