O God, protector of those who hope in you,
without whom nothing has firm foundation, nothing is holy,
bestow in abundance your mercy upon us
and grant that, with you as our ruler and guide,
we may use the good things that pass
in such a way as to hold fast even now
to those that ever endure. (Roman Missal)

            Probably almost everybody here has at one time or another said or written to somebody else, “Take care of yourself,” or its abbreviated version, “Take care.”  Of course, we would never think of lengthening that piece of advice to “Take care of yourself—and nobody else.”  But I think that sometimes we all follow that advice or something similar to it.

            Focusing just on our own needs or the needs of those close to us seems natural, and it’s easy to justify: we do it out of love or a concern for someone’s health or well-being; we’ve earned it with hard work or deserve it because of suffering; it’s necessary because our resources are limited and we have to prioritize.

            Think for a moment, though, about a character in our gospel story—and I don’t mean Jesus, who, as we all already know, not only miraculously fed five thousand people but also gave himself up to death for our salvation.  The person I’d like you to think about is the boy with the five loaves and two fish. Surely he was just as hungry as the other people there.  What if he had decided to keep his food for himself? Or what if he had been saving that food for his family at home?  No one could blame him for being unwilling to share.

            But it was only because of the boy’s generosity, his willingness to focus not just on his needs and the needs of those close to him, that Jesus was able to perform a miracle for everyone.  If we all could be more generous in sharing what we have—our time, our talent, our treasure—there is no telling what great things the Lord would be able to do for our parish, our Church, our community, our world.

The official name given by the Vatican is not great, but this weekend we mark the first annual World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, created by Pope Francis to provide the opportunity to honor the senior members of our Church.  With their wisdom, their life experience, and, especially, the example of their faith, they are a blessing to all the generations that have come after them.