Missionaries and the proclamation of the Gospel
How many loaves have you? (Mark 6: 38)
As Jesus stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length. By now it was getting very late, and his disciples came up to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place and it is getting very late. So send them away, and they can go to the farms and villages round about, to buy themselves something to eat.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ They answered, ‘Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii on bread for them to eat?’ ‘How many loaves have you?’ he asked. ‘Go and see.’ And when they had found out they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he ordered them to get all the people together in groups on the green grass, and they sat down on the ground in squares of hundreds and fifties. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the people. He also shared out the two fish among them all. They all ate as much as they wanted. They collected twelve basketfuls of scraps of bread and pieces of fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men. (Mark 6, 34-44)
The Lord works the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes through the generous gift of someone who had been more provident than others, but who renounced it out of love and faith in Jesus. Today, as then, missionaries give up their comforts to share with others, who still do not know the true and only God, the riches of the Gospel of Jesus. Today, pray for the missionaries to dedicate themselves with perseverance to the proclamation of the Gospel, above any other material necessity. Even an NGO can bring bread to people, but if Christians don't bring the Gospel to others, who will be there to announce it?
