Miracles and Memories

Miracles and Memories

Today’s Gospel Passage about the loaves and fishes is among my favourites.  I love the idea of the boy offering what he had with him so that a crowd could be fed.  One of the traits that most annoys me in people is that of meanness (sometimes coupled with cuteness) and always it annoys me.  On the contrary, generosity in word and deed has a good effect – a knock-on effect – and should always be encouraged.  I read this Gospel passage at my father’s Funeral Mass in March 2011.  It very much reminded me of him and his ways – anybody who called to our home knew what I meant.  My father was obsessed with feeding people and “no” was seldom, if ever accepted as a response to having something.  I asked my cousin, Sean McDonnell, to read a few words I’d written as a reflection that day and thought I might share them here again.  They honour generosity and good example …


They asked me why I did it?

The truth is I don’t know – it just seemed the right thing to do.  We had been standing there for hours.  He had spoken so much, said so much – time just went by.  People were hungry.  You could see it in them and yet nobody wanted to leave.  There was a muttering through the crowd – “he wants to feed us” – “With what?” someone said – “there’s no food here”.

That’s when I heard myself saying “I have something”  – my voice seemed so loud.  I was only a child but my voice rose above all others.  “I have something”.  A man asked what had I and I said “five loaves and two fish” – he smiled.  I suppose now I would think it was a dismissive smile but that day I thought he was pleased.  He passed on the message “There’s a small boy here with five loaves and two fish” – my heart sank when he added “but what is that between so many?”  I blushed and even with my childish counting of two and two making four, I could see he was right.  The man who had been talking to us did not agree.  “Bring it to me”, he said and they took my food.  I’ll never know how it happened but the feeding began.  Bread and fish fed to five thousand.

“Why did you do it?”  I’ve often thought about that.  I did it because my father would have done it.  He was always sharing bread with people at home.  I grew up seeing him do that.  Truth be told, it was he who had given me the few loves and fish before I left the house.  I did it because he would have done it.  It was the right thing to do.

There’s nothing to beat a father’s good example.  Thanks Bill!  We will not forget.

Remembered for ….

Remembered for ….

Looking through Twitter yesterday I noticed this photo and it caught my eye.  An image captured from one of the many marches around the world that sought to express something less than pleasure at the election of the Donald Trump as President of the United States, the slogan was a play on his election slogan: “Make America Great Again”.  I liked the call to kindness.  Of course the banner was given to the child and was not of her making but she presents the message and there’s something believable in a child calling us to kindness.

I was struck by the difference one word can make.  There’s nothing wrong with greatness and to be told you’re “great” is as welcoming as its flattering but there’s something very special about kindness.  I think, at day’s end, we’d prefer to be remembered for kindness rather than greatness.

The slogan then goes beyond America to a more immediate “homeland” – the homeland that is “me”.  Maybe we need to hear that slogan applied to ourselves and, if there’s been any slippage, to let the message sink in “Make ME kind again”.

 

The Dutchman – a touch of kindness

The Dutchman – a touch of kindness

Thanks to Fr Seán Coyle who posted a comment on an earlier post and reminded me of this lovely song.  Seán thinks The Dutchman may have Alzheimer’s Disease (Liam Clancy thinks it’s more like shell-shocked). Whatever the cause, the old man needs a bit of patience, love and kindness and he’s not denied his needs. God bless all the “Margarets” out there who patch the old and torn with love-sewn threads.

LYRICS

http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/tommy_makem/the_dutchman-lyrics-1130918.html#ixzz4Nu9VhzXC

The dutchman’s not the kind of man
To keep his thumb jammed in the dam that holds his dreams in
But that’s a secret only Margaret knows
When Amsterdam is golden
In the morning Margaret brings him breakfast, she believes him
He thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow
He’s mad as he can be, but Margaret only sees that sometimes
Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes

Chorus:
Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise above the Zider Zee
Long ago, I used to be a young man
And dear Margaret remembers that for me

The dutchman still wears wooden shoes
His cap and coat are patched with love that Margaret sewed in
Sometimes he thinks he’s still in Rotterdam
He watches tugboats down canals
And calls out to them when he thinks he knows the captain
‘Till Margaret comes to take him home again
Through unforgiving streets that trip him though she holds his arm
Sometimes he thinks that he’s alone and calls her name

The windmills swirl the winter in
As she winds his muffler tighter, they sit in the kitchen
And the tea with whiskey keeps away the dew
He sees her for a moment
Calls her name, she makes his bed up, humming some old love song
She learned it when the tune was very new
He hums a line or two, they hum together in the night
The dutchman falls asleep and Margaret blows the candle out

Loaves, Fishes and Generosity

Loaves, Fishes and Generosity

ackcov

 

Thinking of the Gospel about feeding the 5000 reminds me of the Post Communion Reflection used at my father’s Funeral Mass in Cloonloo.  It’s elsewhere on this blog but thought I might post here again.

They asked me why I did it?

The truth is I don’t know – it just seemed the right thing to do.  We had been standing there for hours.  He had spoken so much, said so much – time just went by.  People were hungry.  You could see it in them and yet nobody wanted to leave.  There was a muttering through the crowd – “he wants to feed us” – “With what?” someone said – “there’s no food here”.

That’s when I heard myself saying “I have something”  – my voice seemed so loud.  I was only a child but my voice rose above all others.  “I have something”.  A man asked what had I and I said “five loaves and two fish” – he smiled.  I suppose now I would think it was a dismissive smile but that day I thought he was pleased.  He passed on the message “There’s a small boy here with five loaves and two fish” – my heart sank when he added “but what is that between so many?”  I blushed and even with my childish counting of two and two making four, I could see he was right.  The man who had been talking to us did not agree.  “Bring it to me”, he said and they took my food.  I’ll never know how it happened but the feeding began.  Bread and fish fed to five thousand.

“Why did you do it?”  I’ve often thought about that.  I did it because my father would have done it.  He was always sharing bread with people at home.  I grew up seeing him do that.  Truth be told, it was he who had given me the few loves and fish before I left the house.  I did it because he would have done it.  It was the right thing to do.

There’s nothing to beat a father’s good example.  Thanks Bill!  We will not forget.

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