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The Syndrome of Philip and
the Syndrome of Andrew
In the Gospel account of John, chapter 6, verses 4-14, which
recounts the multiplication of the loaves, there are certain
details that I dwell on at length whenever I meditate on or
comment on this passage.
It all begins when, faced with the ‘large’ hungry crowd, Jesus
invites His disciples to take responsibility for feeding them.
The details I refer to are, first, when Philip says it is
impossible to answer this call due to the sheer number of
people present. Andrew, on the other hand, points out that
“there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish,”
only to dismiss the possibility with a simple remark, “but
what are these for so many?” (v.9).
I simply wish to share with you, dear readers, how we
Christians—who are called to share the joy of our faith—can
sometimes, unknowingly, be affected by either Philip’s
syndrome or Andrew’s syndrome. At times, perhaps, even by
both!
In the life of the Church, as well as in the life of the
Salesian Congregation and Family, challenges are never lacking
and never will be. Ours is not a call to form a group where
people merely seek to be comfortable, without disturbing, and
without being disturbed. It is not an experience of pre-
packaged certainties. Belonging to the body of Christ must not
distract us or remove us from the reality of the world as it
is. On the contrary, it urges us to be fully engaged in the
events of human history. This means first and foremost,
looking at reality not only with human eyes but also, and
above all, with the eyes of Jesus. We are called to respond
guided by love, which finds its source in the heart of
Jesus—that is, to live for others as Jesus teaches us and

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shows us.
Philip’s Syndrome
Philip’s syndrome is subtle, and for this reason, it is also
very dangerous. His analysis is correct and accurate. His
response to Jesus’ invitation is not wrong. His reasoning
follows a very straightforward and flawless human logic. He
looked at reality with his human eyes, with a rational mind,
and concluded that it was unfeasible. Faced with this
“calculated” approach, the hungry person ceases to concern
me—the problem is theirs, not mine. To be more precise in
light of our daily experiences, the refugee could have stayed
home; they shouldn’t bother me. The poor and the sick must
deal with their own issues, and it’s not my place to be part
of their problem, much less to find them a solution. This is
Philip’s syndrome. He is a follower of Jesus, yet his way of
seeing and interpreting reality remains stagnant,
unchallenged, light-years away from that of his Master.
Andrew’s Syndrome
Then there is Andrew’s syndrome. I wouldn’t say it’s worse
than Philip’s, but it comes close to being more tragic. It is
a subtle and cynical syndrome; it sees some possible
opportunity but doesn’t go further. There is a tiny glimmer of
hope, but humanly speaking, it’s unworkable. So, both the gift
and the giver are disqualified. And the giver, who in this
case has the ‘misfortune’ of being a boy, is simply willing to
share what he has!
These two syndromes are still with us today, in the Church and
even among us pastors and educators. Crushing a small hope is
easier than making room for God’s surprise—a surprise that can
make even the smallest hope blossom. Allowing ourselves to be
conditioned by dominant clichés, avoiding opportunities that
challenge reductive interpretations, is a constant temptation.
If we’re not careful, we become prophets and executors of our
own downfall. By stubbornly clinging to a human logic—
‘academically’ refined and ‘intellectually’ qualified—the

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space for an evangelical reading becomes increasingly limited
and eventually disappears.
When this human and horizontal logic is challenged, one of the
defensive reactions it provokes is that of ‘ridicule.’ Those
who dare to defy human logic by letting in the fresh air of
the Gospel will be mocked, attacked, and ridiculed. When this
happens, strangely enough, we can say we are on a prophetic
path. The waters are stirring.
Jesus and the Two Syndromes
Jesus overcomes both syndromes by “taking” the loaves, which
were considered too few and therefore irrelevant. He opens the
door to that prophetic and faithful space we are called to
inhabit. Faced with the crowd, we cannot settle for self-
referential readings and interpretations. Following Jesus
means going beyond human reasoning. We are called to look at
challenges through His eyes. When Jesus calls us, He does not
ask for solutions but for the gift of our whole selves—with
all that we are and all that we have. Yet, the risk is that,
faced with His call, we remain stuck, enslaved by our own
thinking and clinging to what we believe we possess.
Only in generosity, grounded in abandonment to His Word, do we
come to gather the abundance of Jesus’ providential action.
“So, they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with
fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had
eaten” (v.13). The boy’s small gift bears astonishing fruit
only because the two syndromes did not have the final word.
Pope Benedict XVI commented on the boy’s gesture, “In the
scene of the multiplication, the presence of a boy is also
noted, who, faced with the difficulty of feeding so many
people, shares the little he has: five loaves and two fish.
The miracle does not come from nothing, but from an initial
modest sharing of what a simple boy had with him. Jesus does
not ask for what we do not have, but shows us that if each one
offers the little they have, the miracle can always happen
anew. God can multiply our small gesture of love and make us

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sharers in His gift” (Angelus, 29 July 2012).
Faced with the pastoral challenges before us, faced with the
deep thirst and hunger for spirituality that young people
express, let us not be afraid, let us not cling to our own
things or ways of thinking. Let us offer the little we have to
Him, trusting in the light of His Word—and may this, and only
this, be the enduring criterion of our choices and the guiding
light of our actions.
Photo: Evangelical miracle of the multiplication of loaves and
fishes, stained glass window at Tewkesbury Abbey in
Gloucestershire (United Kingdom), an 1888 work created by
Hardman & Co