My brothers and sisters,

The Gospel today begins with a crowd of people who are hungry.

Jesus has been healing them and teaching them, but as the day wears on, the disciples become concerned. It is getting late. They are in a deserted place. There is no food. There are thousands of people. The disciples come to what seems a perfectly sensible conclusion: “Send the crowds away.”

Don’t judge them. They aren’t being selfish or uncaring. The need is far greater than their resources. They simply cannot imagine any other outcome.

Their vision is limited by the problem in front of them.

When I use the word “vision”, I simply mean the picture we have of what the future could be. The only future the disciples can picture is one in which the crowd goes away hungry. Jesus looks at exactly the same situation and sees something different. Where the disciples see a problem too large to face, Jesus sees people who must not be abandoned. Where the disciples see thousands being sent away, Jesus sees them sitting down together and being fed. Where the disciples see what they cannot do, Jesus sees what God can do through them. The disciples’ vision is shaped by the size of the problem. The vision of Jesus is shaped by the power and love of God.

That difference lies at the heart of today’s Gospel. The crowd was hungry for bread. But they had followed Jesus because they were hungry for something deeper: for truth, hope, healing and the presence of God. That hunger is still all around us.

But if we are going to speak honestly about the future of our Divine Mercy Partnership, we must speak honestly about the situation we face. The vast majority of Catholics in our area no longer come to Mass. Many children are baptised, make their First Holy Communion or receive Confirmation, and then disappear from the life of the Church. Many parents want the best for their children but do not know how to pass on a faith that was never properly passed on to them. Young people are searching for meaning. Adults are curious about Christianity but do not know where to begin. People are carrying grief, loneliness, anxiety and family difficulties, but do not see the Church as somewhere they might find help. Many others are simply indifferent. God seems irrelevant to them. Meanwhile, our congregations are ageing and becoming smaller. There are fewer priests and volunteers. Churches are closing. Parishes that were once full are struggling. That is the honest picture. We should not pretend otherwise.

Faced with all this, it is easy to develop the same vision as the disciples: “Send the crowds away.” We may never say those words, but we can begin to live as though the people outside our churches are not our responsibility. We can accept that most Catholics no longer practise, that families disappear after the sacraments, that younger generations know almost nothing about Jesus, and that congregations will continue to shrink. We can retreat into simply maintaining what remains for as long as possible. That is how we send the crowd away. It is not always because we do not care. We may feel overwhelmed. We may fear change. We may believe we lack the people, money or energy to make any difference. But underneath it is the same limited vision: the problem is too great, our resources are too small, and nothing more is possible.

Jesus refuses to accept that vision. He says: “You give them something to eat.” Today, he says those words to us. Not simply to the priest. Not simply to the parish staff. Not simply to those who are already heavily involved. He says them to you. “You give them something to eat.” You help to pass on the faith. You welcome the person who comes through the door. You notice the person who is alone. You encourage the family who are struggling. You speak about Christ to the person who is searching. You offer your prayer, your time, your gifts and your faith. Christ speaks to you because, through your Baptism, you share in the mission of his Church.

That may feel overwhelming. The disciples must have thought, “There are twelve of us and thousands of them. What can we possibly do?” And isn’t that how we can feel? We don’t have enough people. We don’t have enough time. We don’t have enough volunteers. We don’t have enough money. In one sense, the disciples were right. Five loaves and two fish were nowhere near enough. But Jesus did not ask them to produce what they did not have. He asked them to place what they did have into his hands.

The disciples offer what they have. Jesus blesses it and multiplies it. Then he gives it back to them to distribute. Christ could have fed the crowd without involving the disciples, but he chose to make them part of his work. The miracle belongs to Christ, but the disciples must distribute the bread. That is still how Christ works: through ordinary people, with ordinary gifts, who often feel they have very little to offer. Over these next few weeks, I want us to reflect together on the future of our Divine Mercy Partnership and the vision Christ is giving us.

Our vision is not simply to manage decline. It is not merely to keep our buildings open for as long as possible. It is not to serve only those who already come to Mass while the rest are sent away. We desire to see our area transformed by the Divine Mercy of Jesus. We desire to build a strong, faithful and missionary Catholic community centred on Jesus, present in his Church through the Mass, the sacraments and the Gospel. We believe that when people truly encounter Jesus in his Church, lives change, families grow stronger and the whole community can be renewed by his love and mercy.

This means building welcoming and prayerful communities where people can encounter God’s love; where parents grow in faith alongside their children; where those who have drifted away can find their way home; and where those searching for Jesus can bring their questions. It means communities centred on the Mass, the sacraments, the Scriptures and prayer; communities where people care for one another and share responsibility for the Church’s mission.

That is an ambitious vision. But the vision of Jesus is ambitious.

Vision does not mean pretending that the problems do not exist. Jesus did not pretend that the crowd was not hungry or that five loaves were enough. Christian vision means looking honestly at the problem without allowing the problem to decide what is possible. If our vision is shaped only by dwindling congregations and everything we lack, we will continue sending the crowd away. But if our vision is shaped by Christ, we will hear him saying: “You give them something to eat.” The disciples began today’s Gospel wanting to send the crowd away. By the end, they were feeding them.

May Christ change our vision too. May each of us hear him speaking personally to us, and place what we have into his hands.

Amen.