A week before Thanksgiving in 1995, the great violinist Itzhak Perlman, accompaniedย by a symphony orchestra, was about to give a concert at Lincoln Center in New Yorkย City. Shortly after beginning, however, one of the strings on his violin broke; thisย happened loudly enough that the other musicians heard it, and they stopped playing. Everyone assumed Perlman would need to replace the string, or find another violin toย play. However, the famous musician merely closed his eyes for a moment and composed himself, and thenโto the amazement of the musicians and the audienceโsignaled to the conductor to start the piece over from the beginning.ย As one author described the event, Perlman โplayed with a passion and a power and a purity such as they had never heard before. Of course, everyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings . . . but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know it.ย You could see him modulating, changing, recomposing the piece in his head.ย At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them, sounds they had never made beforeโ (William J. Bausch, 40 More Seasonal Homilies, pp. 84-85).
This incredible performance was followed by a moment of awestruck silence, and thenย the audience gave the violinist a rousing and prolonged standing ovation, their way ofย acknowledging they had witnessed something almost miraculous.ย After a few minutesย Perlman signaled for silence, and then announced in a quiet, reverent tone, โYou know,ย sometimes it is the artistโs task to find out how much music you can still make with whatย you have leftโ (Bausch, op. cit., p. 85).ย A great musician gave an amazing performanceย under difficult conditions because he was willing to take a chance.ย In the same way, God can multiply our effortsโif we give Him our trust.
Why is it that life is sometimes dull, disappointing, or problematic?ย One reason may beย that weโre too slow to let Godโs grace work in and through us; our weaknesses and doubts may keep us from speaking up, taking a chance, or getting involvedโthereby wasting an opportunity, missing out on a graced moment, or perhaps even preventing God from using us to accomplish a small miracle. The Lord respects our free will; when we say โno,โ He doesnโt force us to do whatโs right, even though it truly would have been better for us. When we say โyes,โ however, amazing things can happen.
In Second Kings (4:42-44), Elishaโs servant initially objected to the idea of setting only twenty loaves of bread in front of one hundred hungry peopleโbut when the prophet reassured him the Lord had promised there would be more than enough, the servant complied, and his obedience was rewarded. He could have said โNo, this is ridiculous and I wonโt be part of it,โ just as the boy in Johnโs Gospel (6:1-15) with the five barley loaves and two fish could have said, โHey, my mother gave this food to me, and Iโm not going to share it.โย In each case, however, a spirit of trust brought about amazing results.ย The prophet Elisha presided over the feeding of one hundred men with only twenty loaves; as the Son of God, Jesus worked an even greater miracle, feeding a far larger crowd with less foodโall because a boy trusted Him enough to share his dinner, and because the apostles obeyed Him by beginning to distribute the food even before they witnessed the actual miracle.ย Jesus tested them, and they passed. St. Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians (4:1-6) urges us to live in a manner worthy of the calling we have received, and one of the things this means is doing whatever we can to cooperate with Godโs planโa plan far greater than we can imagine, and a plan that can accomplish wonderful things, if only we say โyesโ in our hearts.
Many times it seems weโre like violinists trying to perform on an instrument with aย broken string.ย Perhaps health problems are keeping us from doing all the things we used to do, or at least slowing us down and limiting our effectiveness.ย Maybe fear or worries or depression make it hard for us to motivate ourselves, make decisions, or even get out of bed in the morning.ย Itโs possible that a serious misunderstanding with a loved one, or unjust criticism, or an unpleasant encounter with someone, has robbed us of our peace and made it hard to concentrate on what we need to do.ย All these things, along with financial worries, assorted aches and pains, grief, disappointment, feeling unappreciated, and various other types of difficulty and stress, can easily make us feel unenthusiastic, doubtful, and even convinced we have nothing to offer and thereโs no point in trying.
This is the wrong attitude; it may be understandable, but itโs not productive, and it sellsย God short.ย He is able to do wondrous thingsโbut we must give Him the chance.ย Do you know someone whoโs lonely, worried, or grieving?ย Reach out to him or her in a spirit of compassion. No, you wonโt have the solution to all that personโs problems, or be able to say words that magically change his or her lifeโbut many times God will use your simple expression of concern to lift that personโs spirit in a truly meaningful way.ย Do you sometimes think, โIf only I could win the lottery, Iโd give a lot of money to theย Church and to my favorite charities?โ Thatโs probably not going to happenโbut evenย though youโre not a lottery millionaire, if you donate regularly to the extent your financesย allowโperhaps even by tithingโGod will allow your contributions to accomplishย important things.ย Do you find yourself amazed at how the saints were able to spend long hours in prayer and contemplation, and think their spiritual achievements are far beyond anything you can accomplish?ย Perhaps soโbut if you regularly spend quiet time in the Lordโs presence, preferably every day, you too will be touched by His grace and slowly but surely formed into a spiritually beautiful and gracious future citizen of Heaven.
A musician quite naturally assumes his or her instrument needs to be in good workingย order so as to produce pleasing results, but God does not have that expectation of us.ย He knows we are weak, sinful, mistake-prone human beings, and He takes this reality into consideration as His plan of salvation unfolds.ย As long as we cooperate and obey in a spirit of trust, the One Who multiplied the loaves and the fish can also work powerfully in and through usโfilling us with surprising freedom and peace in this life, and preparing us for perfect and everlasting joy in the life to come.