NOTHING MUST BE WASTED

XVII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - John 6:1-15

In our rich world, we use and abuse of everything that surrounds us. It has become a society of consumption, giving little thought to the ones in need or to the destruction of the environment. The lure of self-satisfaction moves us in all that we do.

Our modern, capitalist society is a society that swims in wastefulness. In Portuguese, we would say that our eyes are bigger than our bellies. We overeat and throw away as much as we eat, never caring about the poor who struggle to find food and may go to sleep on an empty stomach.

Nowadays, everybody speaks of the danger of obesity, without doing anything to change the situation by changing the eating habits and the attitudes towards food. On TV there are channels dedicated to food, and we can see how they use and abuse of sugar, oils, meat, which people consume in big quantities. And then whatever remains is thrown away.

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus teaches us to share. He is the bread of life, and when we seat at his table and eat from his food, we are able to share with the others who have no food. Jesus had compassion on the crowd, and gave them food. In the end, Jesus ordered his disciples to “pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.” (Jn 6:12). Indeed, nothing should be left to waste. Instead of wasting, we should share with the ones who are in need.

We may ask ourselves why there are so many people starving, while in the world there is enough food? There is not a fair distribution and there is selfishness in our attitudes towards others, specially the most vulnerable. From the table of the Lord, where we are given the bread of life, we must learn to call others to our tables, where we sit as one family, the family of the children of God.