Along the Way

Standing empty-handed before a hungry crowd at the end of a long day, the disciples ask Jesus to disperse the multitude. Jesus has other ideas. The disciples probably shake their heads in disbelief, as they approach the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish. We know the story well, but sometimes overlook the significance of 12 baskets full of fragments. In other words, each disciple had to experience for himself, not merely observe, the awesome reality of gathering more that he started out with, even though in the form of fragments.

What does this story mean to you – since God is still speaking?  Was there a time in your life when you thought you just were not going to make it? And yet, here you are today, capable of reading and reflecting. So, somehow in the midst of feeling “hungry” and empty handed, you were fed courage and strength to struggle forward. 

Like the disciples, you too will be amazed if you gather the fragments of your daily experiences. Fragments are, after all, visible signs of an abundance often unrecognized. Can you allow yourself to bathe in the awesome reality of how you were “stranded” and then somehow fed, cared for, and rescued in ways you had not even imagined? Take a moment to cherish and relish your own unbelievable experiences.  Blessings on your time of reflection as you discover the miracles that have taken place in your own Journey along the Way.

Historic Ramblings: Mission Olives ("Gifts of the Earth")

There are two parallel rows of olive trees wide enough for two wagons to pass along Mission Blvd in front of Ohlone College in Fremont’s Mission San Jose District. Surprisingly, the hardy trees have survived several centuries during the regions flourishing periods of agricultural, residential and commercial growth. Planted on the sacred ground by the Ohlone people under the direction of Franciscan friars in the late 1700’s, these remaining trees marked the original shaded approach to the fourteenth Spanish Mission for travelers from the mission at Santa Clara. The attractive and productive trees were grown at each of the Spanish Missions situated about a day’s walk from one another along California’s El Camino Real by Franciscan Missionaries from the Mission of San Diego de Alcala.

 Just over three hundred unattended original trees were still surviving when the Dominican Sisters arrived at Mission San Jose in 1891 when they began harvesting the rich oil for sale to Catholic parishes throughout the Bay Area. Cultivation that was paused in 1965 for nation’s 35 years and has been resumed by the Sisters who harvest the ripe fruit each October and November from two hundred flourishing historic Mission Olives trees, the largest number of any of California’s twenty-one Missions.

 “Many hands go into the tending, harvesting, and bottling the golden oil, an activity that engenders great appreciation for the gifts of the Earth.”  

The prized olives are cold pressed, bottled and labeled in Modesto in California’s Central Valley by the Sciabica family, the nation’s oldest producer of cold press products. Extra Virgin Mission Olive Oil from the historic trees at Mission San Jose that once shaded missionaries, the Ohlone people, gold seekers and wayfarers is sold each November at the Dominican Sisters Annual Holiday Boutique.