Newsletter – Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B.

REFLECTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE – by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart

Who has the courage to bring forth those five barley loaves and two fish? A young person! It is a young person who makes the decision to share personal food with a crowd of people. That young person gives us an example of how we should be. That one young person makes a difference.

Have you ever been in that situation? Have you ever done something that served as an example to adults as well as to other young people? If so, what did you do? What happened?

So often we want to make a difference, but we feel as if we cannot. ‘I am only one person. How can I make a difference?’ is what we often ask ourselves. But most major changes in the world happen because one or two people have the courage to try something new.

Have you ever tried something new? Have you ever had a dream about doing something different or starting a movement that might bring about a major change in people’s behaviour or attitude? If so, what is it? If not, what do you wish you could accomplish?

If you had been the only person in a hungry crowd who would admit to having brought any food along, would you have offered it to Jesus so it might be shared with more than five thousand people? Why or why not?

Lots of times we try something new and it fails. At that point we have two choices. We can either give up or we can try again in a way that applies our learning from the first failed attempt. Sooner or later we will make a discovery: we will discover the right way to do something new, or we will discover that we’ve put enough time and energy into a difficult quest and it’s time to change gears and focus on something else.

Have you ever failed at some attempt, then learned enough to try and try again until you finally succeeded? If so, what happened? Have you ever failed at some attempt, tried again a few times, and finally decided that it was time to stop trying and to move on with something else? If so, what happened?