�This is my body given up for you.�

Jubilee Homily 2005

The text of the Jubilee homily 2005 is printed below.� Fr. Anthony Criscitelli was the principle celebrant and homilist for the Jubilee Eucharist.� The text is reprinted for the benefit of those who were unable to attend the Jubilee as well as for continued reflection by all the friars during this time of preparation for the Provincial Chapter.

John Shea, a theologian and storyteller, relates an experience he had when he was on the faculty of a university.� As many institutions are wont to do, this particular university was putting together a five-year plan to meet the needs of its students who had been interviewed, polled, and surveyed over the course of many months.� The committee charged with this mission carefully reviewed all the responses they had received, consulted with various experts, and exercised what they believed to be sound principles of planning.� In the end, they crafted a comprehensive and impressive plan.� But their euphoria was short-lived when a few of the very people who helped design the plan paused to ask, �Who is going to run this program?�� For what they discovered was that they had created a program they believed was necessary and responded to the needs voiced by students, but did not have the human resources to pull it off.

Again, as is often the response to a situation like that, someone suggested that they could hire new faculty and administrators.� Like the disciples, their first thought was to �go and buy� what they believed they were lacking.� But that wouldn�t work because it would require money that they did not have.� In the end, their proposal was shelved, the needs went unmet, the university was left feeling helpless and hopeless, and nothing changed.

This situation is not so different from what the disciples and Jesus are dealing with in the gospel.� Faced with a hungry crowd, as they consider what to do so that they might be fed, the disciples begin with need and beginning with need is beginning with what� they lack.� Dismissing five loaves and a few fish as nothing, they suggest to Jesus that he dismiss the crowd so that they can �go and buy� what they need from those who do have, namely, the merchants and shopkeepers.� However, for Jesus this is more than about feeding a crowd on short notice;� it is an opportunity to teach the disciples about spiritual transformation.� In response to their suggestion Jesus redirects the disciples� attention to what they do have�challenging them to recognize not only loaves and fishes, but what is within them.� �Going and buying� may work in the physical world, but what is necessary in the spiritual world is standing still and becoming aware.

Next, Jesus asks that they bring what they have�however inadequate they believe it to be�and give thanks for it, moving them from awareness to gratitude and helping the disciples to see as a gift what they too easily and quickly perceived as inadequate.� And once they come to see it as a gift and blessing, they are able to give it away.� In the end, everyone is satisfied and there are even leftovers!

My brothers, what this story is trying to tell us is, I think, rather obvious.� We come together this afternoon to celebrate with those who are marking milestones of ordination, as well as the 80^th anniversary of the founding of our Province.� On the one hand, we rejoice to come together and, like the disciples on Mount Tabor, we say, �It is good for us to be here.�� However, each time we gather like this we become painfully aware of what we perceive as our inadequacy�what we are lacking.� It becomes evident to us in many ways�in the fact that those who were professed 25 or 50 years ago have either died or left the community somewhere along the line; in the fact that we have buried nine of our brothers within the past four years; in the fact that, like so many other communities, candidates are not breaking down our door to join us, and many of those who do come knocking are better left outside!� Yes, as we look around, many of us can�t help but see the glass as half empty.� We despair over our future, we wring our hands wondering what will become of us and who will take care of us as we age and grow more dependent, and we wonder how we can continue to do the things we have done with so few resources.� And to fall into that way of thinking is to focus, like the disciples, on what is lacking.� In the face of our pessimism Jesus invites us to spiritual transformation, to be aware of what we have, to see it as gift and give thanks to God for it, to allow ourselves to be moved to greater generosity and trust, and to give what we have and who we are to others.� This spiritual transformation ultimately produces not only satisfaction, but also abundance.

In recent years�perhaps because so many communities are dealing with a reality like ours�a quote attributed to Saint Francis has been used with more and more frequency:� �Start by doing what is necessary; next, do what is possible.� Before you know it, you will be doing the impossible.�� These words mirror the lesson Jesus taught the disciples and tries to teach us:� look around and see what you have rather than lamenting what you do not have; foster a spirit of gratitude even for what you perceive as too little; become generous� and before you know it we will together be doing what we thought was impossible!

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Jubilee Eucharist� �Thy kingdom come�

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Fr. Ilija takes a few minutes to offer a rebuttal to the good-natured ribbing he received from his toast-master,�Bonaventure Midili.

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