Feeding the Four Thousand

Today's Gospel (Mark 8:1-10) which is about the feeding of the four thousand with seven loaves and a few fish is quite memorable to me because back when I was in high school, some explained that such an event is caused not by a miracle of food multiplication but by a miracle of the transformation of hearts. I do remember a high school Religion teacher say that people at that time usually carry food with them when they go out, and in that particular event, when they saw their rabbi sharing the little that he was able to gather, they also decided to follow him and do the same. Because of this, everyone was fed and there were even left overs. Hence, more than simply a physical miracle, a spiritual or moral miracle took place.

If it were the case, the Gospel teaches us the importance of individual contributions in solving a problem. In this particular case, we see the importance of the food each person carried in feeding the multitude of four thousand. In the same manner, it is important for all of us to offer our support to the Church and its missionaries through prayers and material things so that the Church can accomplish its mission.

Such a teaching is close to the hearts of Lasallians. Several endeavors, such as the One La Salle Scholarship Fund Project of De La Salle Philippines which endeavors to raise enough money to fund the entire tuition and fees of 20% of La Salle students nationwide through big corporate donations and small individual donations of only PhP 5,000 per person, highlight the importance of small contribution to the accomplishment of a visionary's goal.

"Is such a method employing small individual contributions successful?" One may ask. I cannot answer such a question directly, but what I do know is that a few years ago, De La Salle Philippines through the Lasallian Institute for the Environment (LIFE) began on its endeavor of planting one million trees by 2011 (the centennial of Lasallian education in the Philippines). Personally, I was impressed by the vision but was a bit skeptical of it; after all, we are only seventeen schools in the Philippines, so how can we plant one million trees in five years, or even half a million trees in five years? I was proven wrong as the most recent reports showed that we are almost near the half a million trees mark in just around three years. This is notwithstanding the non-inclusion of non-Philippine native trees planted.

Although we might not be able to reach the one million target by 2011, the number of trees planted is but a clear sign of the effect of small things making up big things. After all, as my high school principal used to say, "An act of kindness, no matter how small, is never wasted."