What do you make out of John 6:1-15, as read along
with 2 Kings 4:42-44, on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Cycle B
?
Both the Johannine Gospel narrative and the
narrative from 2 Kings are feeding a large crowd out of a scant amount of food,
though it seems impossible. In these
stories, there is a contrast between what Jesus was thinking and what the
disciples were thinking, in juxtaposition to what Elisha was thinking and what
a man from Baal-shalishah was thinking.
As I was reading and reflecting on John 6:1-15 in
connection with 2 Kings 4:42-44, I was first reminded how often I find myself
having difficulty with God’s will or plan as it first made known to me. It is
because I tend to approach God’s will with my own will rather than being like
Jesus the Son, who is absolutely obedient to the Father (i.e. Matthew
26:39//Mark 14:36//Luke 22:42; Luke 23:46;Hebrews 5:8-10). In fact, having this
kind of difficult experience in facing God’s will or plan is not just me. I bet
many faithful people are also experiencing.
Actually, even St. Ignatius of Loyola had this kind of difficulty. Because of this, Ignatius struggled himself
in dealing with God’s will and plan. He was caught in between God’s will and
his own will. He wanted to accept God’s will but his own will tried to pull him
into another direction.
In the aforementioned Johannine Gospel context, this
struggle we share with St. Ignatius of Loyola is like being caught between
Jesus’ will to feed the hungry multitude regardless and the disciple’s
skepticism on being able to feed such a great crowd, echoed by a gap between Elisha’s
determination to feed the people and the doubt of a man from Baal-shalishah. Being faithful, we know that we want to honor
and do God’s will but there is something in us that cast doubt and discourage.
This leads to a dilemma.
For Ignatius, a solution from this kind of problem
is total surrender of ourselves to God’s will, as reflected in these words from
the Spiritual Exercises:
Take,
Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire
will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O Lord,
I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me
Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me. #234
These words are known as “Suscipe Prayer”. Suscipe,
in Latin, means “take”, as it is the second-person singular active imperative form,
derived from suscipio (to take). In
Latin, the prayer goes like this:
Suscipe,
Domine, universam meam libertatem. Accipe memoriam, intellectum, atque
voluntatem omnem. Quidquid habeo vel possideo mihi largitus es; id tibi
totum restituo, ac tuae prorsus voluntati trado gubernandum. Amorem tui solum
cum gratia tua mihi dones, et dives sum satis, hec aliud quidquam ultra posco.
With this prayer, St. Ignatius of Loyola reminds us
that we must offer up ourselves totally, including universam nostrum libertatem, memoriam, intellectum, voluntatem omnem,
et omnia quae habemus, in order for us to accept God’s will without much
difficulties so that we will not be caught in dilemma with God’s will.
In the Gospel story (John 6:1-15), there is another aspect,
in which Ignatian spiritual wisdom for humility from Suscipe Prayer is reflected.
It is in regard to a boy, who was with five loaves of bread and two fish, whom
Andrew found (John 6:9a).
Imagine if this boy had refused to let Jesus have
the loaves and fish he had and ran away for his own self-preservation. Perhaps,
Jesus might not have been able to perform a miracle of feeding such a large number
of people, though I am sure that he could find another way. There is an
important lesson of St. Ignatius’ “Suscipe Prayer” of humility by total submission
that we can reflect with this boy.
It is likely that the five loaves and two fish were
all he had. I am sure he would rather prefer to have kept these for his own
survival. Nevertheless, he submitted all of he had – the loaves and fish – to
the will of God in Jesus’ intention to feed the crowd. This is like what a poor widow at Zarephath
did, offering up the very last batch of scant amount of flour and oil for Elijah to have a piece of bread as God
willed her to, though she saved the flour and oil for her and her son to live
just another day (1 Kings 17:7-16). By
giving up the flour and oil, she and her son could have been dead a day sooner.
In spite of this fearful prospect, she offered up them, as God willed, to
Elijah and, in return, she, her family and Elijah had enough food to eat even
during famine. As the poor woman at Zarephath did not refuse Elijah’s request
to have her bake bread out of her last batch of flour and oil, the boy did not
protest God’s will in Jesus to have his loaves and fish. He did not even doubt Jesus’ plan to feed the
multitude out of a scant amount of food he had. In contrast, Andrew, though
being Jesus’ disciple, wondered what good such a small amount of food that the
boy had would do in feeding a great crowd (John 6:9b).
The boy with the loaves and fish was able to offer
up all he had for Jesus’ mission to feed the multitude because he humbly embodied
the Ignatian spirit in Suscipe Prayer. As a matter of fact, there is another Ignatian
aspect found in this Gospel episode, in addition to Suscipe Prayer.
When Jesus first recognize the people coming toward
him, he was moved with compassion (ἐσπλαγχνίσθη/
esplanchnisthe), as said in Matthew 14:14 and Mark 6:34. Thus, Jesus asked
Philipp, “Where can we buy enough food
for them to eat?”, not only to act with his compassion but also to test him
(John 6:5). What is quite interesting
here is Philipp’s response. He did not even answer Jesus’ question but rather
responded with his “excuse”, saying, “Two
hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have
a little bit” (John 6:7). Basically, Philipp was protesting Jesus’ plan to
feed the multitude because it just cost way too much on the disciples. Like
Philipp, don’t all have this tendency to reject God’s will and plan because,
according to our will, it cost too much on us? Don’t we all have a tendency to
count the cost according to our own will in response to God’s will or call, at
first?
Our tendency to cling to what we have for our own
survival may become hindrance to God’s will. This problem is also reminded in
Buddhist teaching “raga”(clinging) in “trivisa”(three
fundamental kleshas), along with “moha”(delusion, ignorance) and “dvesha”(indignant aversion). In order
for us to become effective channel of God’s will, we must overcome our tendency
of “raga” or clinging.
Now, what St. Ignatius of Loyola would say to
overcome this problem of “raga” we
tend to have?
Of course, first and foremost, Ignatius’ advice
would be found in his “Suscipe Prayer”, because the source of this problem is
found in our ego. In order to overcome all the ego-driven problems, we must
resolve our ego, also as in Buddhist teaching for anatman. In a way, the Ignatian teaching of “Suscipe Prayer” is in
parallel to Buddhist teaching of anatman.
Once we resolve our ego – attaining anatman
by surrendering our total selves to God’ will, as we recognize that God’s grace
is enough for us, reflecting 2 Corinthians 12:9 and Psalm 23:1, we become more
willing to offer up whatever in pour possession for God’s will to be done. It
also means that the more we resolve our ego by Suscipe Prayer, the more
generous we become according to God’s will – for greater glory of God – ad majorem Dei Gloriam.
So, here is another Ignatian spiritual wisdom:
Lord, teach us to be generous,
to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the
wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to look for any
reward,
save that of knowing that we do
your holy will.
En español….
Señor
Jesús
enséñanos
a ser generosos
a
servirte como Tú mereces
a
dar sin medida,
a
combatir sin temor a las heridas
a
trabajar sin descanso
sin
esperar otra recompensa
que
saber que hemos cumplido
tu
santa voluntad.
Unless we overcome our tendency to count the cost
upon surrendering our total selves, as to attain anatman, we cannot be as generous as God is. Otherwise, we would be
like Philipp – protesting God’s will by counting the cost to do His will. As Ignatius has prayed, we seek God’s grace
to be more generous, willing to work hard for his greater glory – Ad majorem Dei gloriam. This is the
Ignatian magis spirit to do more for
the will of God – for His greater glory.
The episode of Jesus miraculously feeding the hungry
multitude to complete satisfaction and still leaving a plenty of leftovers in
John 6:1-15 reflects two Ignatian prayers: Suscipe Prayer for humility and
Generosity Prayer to be willing to work for God’s will without counting the
cost. In light of the Ignatian spirituality,
this Gospel narrative invites us to be like the boy, who gave up his
possessions: five loaves and two fish for God’s will, though Jesus’ disciples
protested and doubted God’s will in Jesus’ action plan with compassion.
It is no coincidence
that we have read John 1:6:1-15 on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
on Cycle B (July 29) two days before
celebrating the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola (July 31) this year (2018), to reflect two pieces of Ignatian spiritual
wisdom: Suscipe Prayer and Prayer for Generosity.
We pray first as St. Ignatius of Loyola has and has
taught the Jesuits to do with his Suscipe Prayer and Prayer for Generosity, so
that we, too, become better servants of God with the Ignatian spirit of “magis”, ad
majorem Dei gloriam. To make this
happen all the way to the ends of the earth, Ignatius has said, Ita
inflammate omnia!
Now we, the faithful, are on fire to go set
the world on fire with the Ignatian spirit of humility and generosity so that
even a scant amount of resources shall be multiplied to fill our word’s needs.
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