1 page Synopsis of O.T. XVII [B] Sunday (July 26) Jn 6: 1-15(L/15)

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1 1 1 page Synopsis of O.T. XVII [B] Sunday (July 26) Jn 6: 1-15(L/15) Introduction: Today s readings invite us to become humble instruments in God s hands by sharing our blessings with our needy brothers and sisters. They also remind us that if our country has been blessed with an abundance of earthly bread or with the technical capabilities to produce such abundance, then these gifts are for sharing with the hungry people and poor countries. Once physical hungers are satisfied, then we are challenged to satisfy the deeper hungers, for love, mercy, forgiveness, companionship, peace and fulfillment. Scripture lessons: The first reading tells us how the prophet Elisha, by invoking God s power, fed one hundred men with twenty barley loaves. This miracle foreshadowed the gospel account of Jesus' miraculous feeding of the crowd who followed him to hear his words. Today s psalm gives us the assurance that it is the hand of the Lord that feeds us, and that it is God who answers all our needs. In the second reading, St. Paul reminds the Ephesians that Jesus united the Jews and the Gentiles by bringing them together as Christians in one faith and one baptism, and, hence, they have to live together, helping each other by sharing their blessings. Paul urges us to become communities of sharing Christians. The miraculous feeding of the five thousand people by Jesus, using five barley loaves and two fish, as described in today s gospel, is associated with the Holy Eucharist early in the Church s tradition. The people immediately interpreted the miracle, giving Jesus two Messianic titles: "The prophet and "the one who is to come." This miracle teaches us that God works marvels through ordinary people. Elisha s servant and Jesus disciples distributed the bread provided by God through generous people who were willing to share their food with the hungry. Thus, God meets the needs of people through the good will and services provided by members of His community. Life messages: A challenge to generous sharing: 1) The gospel story teaches that Jesus meets the most basic human need, namely hunger, with generosity and compassion. 2) Today s readings also tell us that God really cares about His people and that there is enough and more than enough for everybody. Studies show that the world today produces enough food grains to provide every human being on the planet with 3,600 calories a day, not counting such foods as tuber crops, vegetables, beans, nuts, fruits, meats, and fish. Hence, let us pray and work for better social justice in all communities and countries. 3) As Christians we need to commit ourselves to share and to work with God in communicating His compassion to all as the early Christians did. God always blesses those who share their blessings and talents with loving commitment. We can begin our own humble efforts at "sharing" right in our parish by participating in the works of charity done by organizations like St. Vincent DePaul Society, the Knights of Columbus etc. (L/12

2 2 O.T. XVII [B] (Jly 29): 2Kings 4:42-44, Eph 4:1-6, John 6:1-15 Anecdote: #1: No my son, the pigs of my village don t pray before meals! Monsignor Arthur Tonne has a funny story on today s gospel lesson. A village farmer stopped at a restaurant in the nearby town and sat near a group of young fellows who were acting up, shouting at the cook and heckling the waitress. When his meal was set before him the old farmer bowed his head to offer a prayer. One of the smart-alecks thought he would have some fun with the old farmer. So he shouted in a loud voice that could be heard by everyone, Hey, Pop, does everyone do this where you come from? Calmly the old man turned towards the lad with an innocent smile and replied in an equally loud voice: No son, our pigs don t. Today s gospel tells us that, before feeding the five thousand, Jesus took the loaves of bread, gave thanks (to God his Father) and distributed them. #2: A bag of rice to share: From her personal experience, Mother Teresa relates a story showing how the poor are more generous than the rich because they have experienced hunger and poverty. Learning of a poor Hindu family in Calcutta who had been starving for many days, Mother Theresa visited them and brought a big parcel of rice to the mother. She was surprised to see how the mother divided the rice into two equal portions and went out with one bundle to give it to her Moslem neighbor. When she returned, Mother Theresa asked her why she had done such a generous deed. The woman replied: My family can manage with half the rice in this bag. My neighbor s family has several children and they are also starving." Today s gospel tells the story of a small boy who showed this same kind of generosity. By sharing his small lunch (which consisted of five barley loaves and two dried fish), he became the instrument in Jesus working of a miracle that fed thousands. # 3: I wish I could be a brother like that: Paul had received a special pre- Christmas gift from his rich brother. It was a beautiful new car - fully loaded and ready to go. On Christmas Eve, when Paul came out of his office, a street kid was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. "Is this your car, mister? the kid asked. When he replied that it was and that his brother had given it to him for Christmas, the boy said, "You mean your brother gave it to you, and it didn't cost you anything? Free? For nothing? Gosh, I wish..." The boy hesitated, and Paul knew what he was about to say. He had heard it many times over the past few days. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said shocked Paul. I wish", the boy said, "I wish I could be a brother like that." We can be a brother like that or a sister like that. All it takes is that we offer ourselves and what we have, to God. All it takes is that we cease to worry about how little we have and begin instead to think about what it is that we can offer to others, as the little boy in today s gospel story did by sharing his bread and fish with the multitude through Jesus. ( Chicken Soup series).

3 3 Introduction: Today s readings invite us to become humble instruments in God s hands by sharing our blessings with our needy brothers and sisters. Miracles can happen through our hands, when we collect and distribute to the needy the food destined for all by our generous God. Today s readings also remind us that if we have been blessed with an abundance of earthly bread or with the technical capabilities to produce such an abundance, then these gifts are for sharing with the hungry. When physical hungers are satisfied, then we are challenged to satisfy the deeper hungers - for love, mercy, forgiveness, companionship, peace and fulfillment. The first reading tells us how the prophet Elisha, by invoking God s power, fed one hundred men with twenty barley loaves. This miracle foreshadowed the gospel account of Jesus' miraculous feeding of the crowd who followed him to hear his words. Today s psalm tells us: The hand of the Lord feeds us; God answers all our needs. In the second reading, St. Paul reminds the Ephesians that Jesus united the Jews and the Gentiles, bringing them together as Christians in one faith and one baptism. Hence, he urges them to keep this unity intact as one body and one spirit by living as true Christians, bearing with one another through love, in humility, gentleness, patience and peace. If we become such a community, nobody will go hungry, and God will meet the needs of people through the services provided by members of our community. The miraculous feeding of the five thousand people by Jesus, with five barley loaves and two fish, as described in today s gospel, is associated in Church tradition with the Holy Eucharist. John s version of the miracle clearly heightens the Eucharistic allusions when we read it along with the miraculous feeding of 100 men by the prophet Elisha in today s first reading. But unlike Elisha, Jesus himself assumed the divine role, feeding the people with eschatological plenty. The reaction of the people was immediate and unanimous; they interpreted the miracle as a messianic sign and gave Jesus two Messianic titles: "The prophet and "the one who is to come." This miracle teaches us that God works marvels through ordinary people. Elisha s servant and Jesus disciples distributed the bread, provided by God. Thus, God meets the needs of the people through the services provided by the members of His community. First reading, 2 Kings 4:42-44: The first reading, taken from the Second Book of Kings, prepares us for today s gospel which describes the miraculous feeding of more than five thousand people by Jesus using a boy s gift of five barley loaves and two dried fish. Acting through the prophet Elisha, God fed about 100 people with 20 barley loaves. Both incidents tell us that God works marvels through ordinary people and meets the needs of people through the services provided by members of the community. The Fathers of the Church recognized this miraculous feeding of Elisha as a type of, and prelude for, Jesus feeding of the multitudes in today s gospel, an event that itself foreshadowed his gift of

4 4 Himself in the Eucharist which continues to nourish believers. The paired readings challenge the Church to continue Elisha s and Jesus tradition by becoming, with His power, a provider and multiplier of bread for the poor. Second Reading, Ephesians 4:1-6: St. Paul, in prison, reminds the Ephesians that Jesus united the Jews and the Gentiles, bringing them together as Christians in one faith and one baptism. Hence, he advises them to keep this unity intact as one body and one spirit by living as true Christians bearing with one another in love, with humility, gentleness, patience and peace. At present, we are the community that Paul describes. We are the ones called to feed the hungry today. As members of the body of Christ, we need to remember that miracles can happen through our prayers, our donations and our hands when we help Him to distribute to the hungry the food destined for all by our generous God. Exegesis: The context: Jesus withdrawals into the wilderness were probably intended to provide periods of rest and reflection for Jesus and his disciples, and a time for him to teach them privately. In addition, withdrawal might have allowed them to avoid danger from those hostile to him, particularly after the execution of John the Baptist. Today s gospel shows us one such incident, Here, we see Jesus trying, in vain, to withdraw with his apostles from the crowds at Capernaum by sailing to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus stepped ashore near a remote village called Bethsaida Julius, where the River Jordan flows into the north end of the Sea of Galilee, and faced a large crowd of people who had pursued him around the Sea on foot. His immediate reaction was one of deep compassion. Near the place where they had landed, there was a small grassy plain, and there he began to heal the sick among them and to teach them at length. This was the scene of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand as described in today s gospel. A great miracle before a multitude: The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is found in all four gospels, although the context and emphasis vary. This is the only miracle, other than the resurrection, that is told in all the gospels, a fact that speaks of its importance to the early Church. Compare Mark 6:35-44 with Matthew 14:13-21, Luke 9:12-17, and John 6:1-14. Matthew says that there were about 5,000 men, not including women and children. This miraculous feeding in the desert had precedents: Moses, Elijah and Elisha had fed people without resources. The present miracle resembles particularly the one performed by Elisha in 2 Kings 4: In both cases, unlike the manna in the desert, there were leftovers, for everyone there had had enough and more than enough. This miracle, then, is greater than the manna of the exodus. The Gospel story should be treated as a witness to the power of God and an implicit declaration of Jesus divinity. It also shows how, to this day, Jesus empowers his disciples to continue

5 5 his works of compassion. We may regard the incident both as a miracle of divine providence and also as a messianic sign in which Jesus multiplied loaves and fish in order to feed his hungry listeners. The lesson for every Christian is that, no matter how impossible his or her assignments may seem, with divine help they can be done because "nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). A messianic sign or a miracle of generous sharing? The traditional teaching of the Church is that Jesus literally multiplied the bread and fish to feed his hungry listeners. C.S. Lewis, in his book Miracles, says that this is simply God doing in microcosm what God does all of the time in macrocosm. At the beginning of this century in his classic book, The Quest for the Historical Jesus, Schweitzer suggested that what we have here is a "sacrament" rather than a full meal. All the people received was the merest crumb of food, and yet, somehow, with Jesus present among them, it was enough. That, however, does not explain the baskets full of leftovers from the five loaves and two fish. A few bible scholars even suggest that the "miracle" may be interpreted also as Jesus success in getting a group of selfish people to share their personal provisions with others. According to this interpretation, it appears strange and unnatural that the crowd had made this nine-mile long expedition to such a desolate village without taking anything to eat. When people set out on a journey, they usually took their food with them in a small basket called a kophinah or in a bigger wicker basket. But if they had done so in this case, each one might have been unwilling to share what he had brought with others. If such were the case, Jesus might have deliberately accepted the five loaves and fish from the little boy in order to set a good example for the crowd. Moved by this example of generosity, the crowd might have done the same: thus, there could have been enough for all. This view was propounded by the famous preacher-novelist Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe. This rather fanciful explanation may still be considered a miracle : it might show that how the example of the boy responding to Jesus miraculously turned a crowd of selfish men and women into a fellowship of generous sharers. It does, however, militate against the Divinity of Jesus, True God and True Man. For it is the literal interpretation of the miracle which makes the miracle a messianic sign with Eucharistic reference, points to the Divinity of Christ and offers an example of God s love for us, expressed in superabundant generosity. A symbol of the Eucharist: No Bible scholar doubts that all six bread miracles in the gospels are about the Eucharist. The multiplication of the loaves is the only miracle from Jesus public ministry narrated in all four Gospels with Eucharistic overtones. The early Christian community saw this event as anticipating the Eucharist. John uses this story in his gospel to introduce Jesus profound and extended reflection on the Eucharist and the Bread of Life. The Cycle B lectionary has selected portions from John chapter 6 for five Sundays to remind us of Jesus teaching on the Eucharist. The Eucharistic coloring of the

6 6 multiplication of bread is clear in Jesus' blessing, breaking, and giving the loaves. Thus, the miracle itself becomes a symbol of the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity. The sharing of the broken bread is a sign of a community that is expected to share and provide in abundance for the needs of its members. Matthew invites us to see this miracle as a type or symbol explaining the sacrament's meaning. Clearly the account suggests the early Christian rite of the breaking of the bread, celebrated daily (Acts 2), rather than the covenant-sacrifice meal, or the annual Jewish Passover celebration, or the yearly Christian Paschal celebration. This daily breaking of the bread also had eschatological associations: it was an anticipation of the messianic banquet. The Church's Eucharist today combines both the sacrificial and the eschatological associations. In the recent past, emphasis has been placed more on the sacrificial than on the eschatological aspect, but the imbalance is now being redressed. Life messages: #1: "You give them something to eat." The gospel story teaches that Jesus meets the most basic human need, hunger, with generosity and compassion. Today s readings also tell us that God really cares about His people and that there is enough and more than enough for everybody. Studies show that the world today produces enough food grains to provide every human being on the planet with 3,600 calories a day, not counting such foods as tuber crops, vegetables, beans, nuts, fruits, meats, and fish. Over the past twenty five years, food production has exceeded world population growth by about 16%. This means that there is no good reason for any human being in today's world to go hungry. But even in a rich country like U.S.A., one child out of five grows up in poverty, three million people are homeless and 4000 unborn babies are aborted every day. The problem in feeding the world s hungry population lies with our political lack of will, our economic system biased in favor of the affluent, our militarism, and our tendency to blame the victims of social tragedies such as famine. We all share responsibility for the fact that populations are undernourished. Therefore, it is necessary to arouse a sense of responsibility in individuals, especially among those more blessed with this world s goods. (Pope John XXIII, Mater et Magistra (1961) ). #2: We need to commit ourselves to share with others, and to work with God in communicating His compassion. It is too easy to blame God, too easy to blame governments, too easy see these things as other people's problems. They are also our problems. That is the meaning of the Eucharist we celebrate here today. In other words, as Christians we need to commit ourselves to share what we have with others, and to work with God in communicating his compassion to all. God is a caring Father and He wants our co-operation to be part of His caring for all of us, His children. That s what the early Christians did, generously sharing what they had with the needy. They were convinced that everything they needed to experience a fulfilling life was already there, in the gifts and talents of

7 7 the people around them. People of our time need to be encouraged to share, even when they think they have nothing to offer. Whatever we offer through Jesus will have a life-giving effect in those who receive it. We are shown two attitudes in the Gospel story: that of Philip and that of Andrew (John 6:7-9). Philip said, in effect: "The situation is hopeless; nothing can be done." But Andrew's attitude was: "I'll see what I can do; and I will trust Jesus to do the rest." Let us have Andrew s attitude. #3: God blesses those who share their talents, with loving commitment. This is illustrated by Mother Teresa who went to serve the slum dwellers of Calcutta with just twenty cents in her pocket. When she died forty-nine years later, God had turned those original twenty cents into eighty schools, three hundred mobile dispensaries, seventy leprosy clinics, thirty homes for the dying, thirty homes for abandoned children and forty thousand volunteers from all over the world to help her. We can begin our own humble efforts at "sharing" right in our parish by participating in the works of charity done by organizations like the St. Vincent DePaul Society, the Knights of Columbus and so many other volunteer groups. We may say, I do not have enough money or talent to make any difference. But we need to remember that the small boy in the story had only five barley loaves and two dried fish. The Bible guarantees that every believer has at least one gift from the Holy Spirit. This is our one tiny fish. Perhaps our fish is not money, but a talent or an ability that God has given us. We all have something. If you have never trusted God with your time, or your talent, or your treasure...all your resources...this is the time to start. Let us offer ourselves and whatever we have to God saying, Here is what I am and what I have Lord; use me; use it. And He will bless us and bless our offering, amplifying it beyond our expectations. When we give what we have to God, and we ask Him to bless it, it is then the miracle happens. We, too, can perform wonders in our own time and place, by practicing the four "Eucharistic verbs of Jesus: Take humbly and generously what God gives us, bless it by offering it to others in God s love, break it off from our own needs and interests for the sake of others, give it away with joy-filled gratitude to God who has blessed us with so much. JOKES OF THE WEEK: 1) "What would Jesus do?" I heard about a little boy who got into a heated argument with his sister about who was going to get the last brownie, and his mother overheard this discussion and came in to try to resolve the fuss. Her two children, both extremely upset, each wanted that last brownie. So sensing the opportunity to teach a deeper spiritual truth, the mother looked at her children and asked that very relevant question..."what would Jesus do?" Well, that little boy immediately answered, "That's easy. Jesus would just break that brownie and make 5,000 more!"

8 8 2) "What's the expiration date on it?" It's like the story of a little girl in Milwaukee who had had her tonsils out and was staying with her grandmother while her parents were at work. One day she complained of a sore throat. "I have some holy water from Lourdes that I got from my mother," the grandmother said. "Should I put some on your neck?" The girl thought for a moment and then asked, "What's the expiration date on it?" 3) Sharing everything: A young man saw an elderly couple sitting down to lunch at McDonald's. He noticed that they had ordered one meal, and an extra drink cup. As he watched, the gentleman carefully divided the hamburger in half, counted out the fries, one for him, one for her, until each had half of them. Then he poured half of the soft drink into the extra cup and set that in front of his wife. The old man then began to eat, and his wife sat watching, with her hands folded in her lap. The young man decided to ask if they would allow him to purchase another meal for them so that they didn't have to split theirs. The old gentleman said, "Oh no. We've been married 50 years, and everything has always been and will always be shared, 50/50." The young man then asked the wife if she was not going to eat, and she replied, "It's his turn with the teeth." 10- Additional anecdotes: 1) That's a miracle. Rembrandt could take a twodollar canvas, paint a picture on it, and make it a priceless masterpiece. That is art. John D. Rockefeller could take a worthless check, sign his name to it, and make it worth a million dollars. That's capital. A mechanic can take a piece of scrap metal and bend and shape it into a $500 automobile part. That is skill. Jesus Christ can take the commonest bread and dried fish, bless and multiply it, making a banquet for 5,000! That's a miracle. 2) That's no miracle, I could do that!" I heard about a young preacher who was going to preach his very first sermon, and he was going to preach from the text that I will be preaching on this morning. As he introduced it he said, "I want to talk to you about how Jesus fed five men with five thousand loaves of bread and two thousand fish." Well, there was a man in the church that loved to intimidate preachers and he jumped up and said, "Great day, that's no miracle, I could do

9 9 that!" This young preacher was just shattered and couldn't even preach the sermon. Well, the next Sunday, out of spite, he started over with the same sermon and announced this time correctly: "I want to talk to you today about how Jesus fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fish." He looked down at the critical church member and said, "I guess you could do that too?" The man said, "Great day, I could do that easy!" The preacher said, "How?" He said, "With what was left over from last Sunday." 3) May I have some chocolate chip cookies?" Paul Harvey told about a 3-yearold boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered she had certain instructions for the little boy: "Now you're not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, today, so don't even ask." She put him in the cart and off they went up and down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. Seeing all those chocolate chip cookies was just too much and he said, "Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?" Mom said, "I told you not even to ask. You're not going to get any, that's all." They continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items she had to back track and they ended up in the cookie aisle again. "Mom, can I please have some chocolate chip cookies?" She said, "I told you that you can't have any. Now sit down and be quiet." Finally, they arrived at the checkout. The little boy sensed that the end was in sight, that this might be his last chance. He stood up on the seat and shouted in his loudest voice, "In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?" Everybody in the checkout lines laughed and applauded. And that little boy got his chocolate chip cookies. And not just one package. The other shoppers were so moved by the little boy's outburst that he and his mother went home with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies. ( That little boy experienced much the same thing as the boy in the passage for the message this morning. They both experienced an unexpected miracle. Let's look at the passage and then you'll see what I mean. 4) "Lord, what a cow!" An old prospector came into a saloon in frontier California and ordered a glass of milk with a shot of whiskey in it. While the bartender was fixing his drink, the old prospector wandered over to speak to some of his friends. Before he came back, a man came in wearing a black threadbare coat. He walked up to the bartender and timidly said, "Sir, I'm a poor traveling Methodist circuit rider. I've just made it across the desert. I'm bone dry. Could you let me have that foamy glass of milk I see you've just poured?" "Take the milk," said the bartender with a twinkle in his eye. "We're glad to have you in our town. Take that glass of milk and drink it up." The preacher drank that milk real slow savoring every drop. Then he looked up towards the ceiling and with a smile on his face he declared, "Lord, what a cow!" I hope nobody's offended by that little piece of humor, but this morning we want to talk for a few moments about the

10 10 bounteous goodness of God. And we want to say, "Lord, what a bounteous God!" Our text tells the story of the feeding of the five thousand. It is a marvelous story of God's provision for human need. The focus is on bread, but the lesson is about all. 5) When they had the security of bread for tomorrow they slept like babies: Immediately after fighting had stopped in World War II, American soldiers gathered up many hungry and homeless children and placed them in tent cities. Many of them were malnourished and in need of medical care. The soldiers shared their bread with them. However, the soldiers noticed the children were afraid to go to sleep at night. One of the soldiers tried an experiment after dinner--he gave the children a piece of bread to hold. The result was astounding. When they had the security of bread for tomorrow they slept like babies. It took away fear. Carl Jung, one of our century s greatest psychiatrists, has said that the central neurosis of our age is emptiness. Humanity s problem is a spiritual problem. In this story, we see the answer Jesus gives to that need. Carlo Caretto in his outstanding book, The God Who Comes, writes "Jesus is Life, and he knows his creature can do nothing without Him; He knows the child would die of hunger without bread. But our bread is God himself, and God gives Himself to us as food in Holy Communion. 6) 300-calorie-a-day diet : Some years ago I had a friend who was on a 300- calorie-a-day diet under a doctor's supervision. 300 calories! That boggles the mind! I inhale 300 calories just smelling the aroma of a good pizza. But my friend on the three-hundred-calorie-a-day diet lost sixty pounds, and as a result reached his near-ideal weight in a very short time. But one cannot subsist indefinitely on a 300-calorie-a-day- diet. Sooner or later there must come and end to the dieting, for starving oneself in this manner is highly dangerous. In like manner, to starve oneself spiritually can be equally dangerous. Perhaps that is what Jesus was getting at when He spoke those strange words in John, Chapter 6: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35) 7) God s extravagance: Consider our universe. Did you know that if you could bore a hole in the sun and somehow put in 1.2 million earths, you would still have space left over for 4.3 million moons. The sun is 865,000 miles in diameter and 93 million miles away from earth. Pluto, still in our solar system but in the opposite direction, is 2.7 billion miles away. And there are billions of such solar systems. What are they there for? As best we can determine, they have no other purpose than our enjoyment and perhaps to serve as a challenge to humanity to keep moving ever outward and upward. Galileo once put it this way, "The sun which has all those planets revolving about it and depending on it for their orderly functions can ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the

11 11 world to do." And it doesn't! God has brought into being a magnificent creation with the sole purpose of providing for His children's needs. Isn't that mindboggling? But why such extravagance, why such bounty, why such seeming waste? We find a case of Christ s extravagance in today s gospel in feeding 5000 people. 8) "Isn't this wonderful?" Jesus wants to prepare us for the extravagance of Heaven by providing the miraculous feeding described in today s gospel. It reminds me of two fellows who died recently and were walking the golden streets of God's celestial realm. There was more beauty and more splendor and more joy there than they had ever dreamed imaginable. One of them turned to the other and said, "Isn't this wonderful?" The other replied, "Yes, and to think we could have gotten here ten years sooner if we hadn't eaten all that oat bran." 9) Waste! Waste! Waste! A test in a western state showed that the average family throws away between eighty and one hundred dollars worth of food annually. Unused food thrown away is waste. Multiply that by all the households in America plus all the unused food thrown away from restaurants and we are reversing the miracle of the five thousand. Waste! Waste! Waste! Another thing to consider is that we have regulated the farmers to produce less and less in this country. Surely there is a way to exercise more effective stewardship in these matters. 10) Free-Food Tree: Appalled at the wastefulness of their students, two elementary school teachers in Santa Cruz, California, planted a young sapling on the school s campus and named it the Free-Food Tree. Rather than discard their uneaten or unwanted sandwiches, the children were encouraged to place them under the tree so that students who had lost their lunch or could not afford one could help themselves. Some children began to bring an extra sandwich from home so that they d have one to put under the Free-Food Tree. Eventually, the supply of donated food was sufficient to nourish all the school s hungry youngsters with enough left over to offer to the homeless who lived in the city park near the school. In addition to learning not to waste their share of this world s goods, the students had their first encounter with hunger and began to understand what they could do to alleviate it. A valuable lesson indeed, considering the fact that every hour 1,500 of this world s children die of hunger or hunger-related causes. (Celebration)

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