What if you never had to worry about where your next meal is coming from? What if you didn’t have to work hard to put food on the table, never had to go to the store to buy food and drink, and you never had to prepare the meal or clean up afterwards? I guess you would call that heaven.
It is easy to criticize the Israelites grumbling to Moses about the hardships they faced in the desert. How silly to say they’d rather be enslaved again. But anyone who has truly known what it’s like to be hungry day after day with no end in sight can appreciate their complaints. We have a great advantage over both the crowd in the desert and the one in Capernaum. We know the ending. The Jewish people made it to the Promised Land. The Bread of Life is the food of our redemption.
When uncertain about the future, it is natural to look for signs. The crowd in today’s Gospel saw his sign of the loaves and fish, and now ask for a sign that they may see and believe. We may ask ourselves what signs we need to see in order to believe. Perhaps we would be better off asking what signs we can provide so that others may believe. How can we multiply what we have in order to nourish others?
As we come together each weekend, we receive the Lord, the Bread of Life in the Eucharist. He satisfies our hunger, be it material or spiritual. When we receive the Lord in communion and into our hearts, he brings fullness, mission, God’s grace and help, and the promise of everlasting life into our poor, imperfect, and needy human lives. Let us take comfort in knowing that God continues to watch over us, forever satisfying our hunger and thirst.
Love, Peace, Joy,
Fr. Bob
Comments
There are no comments yet - be the first one to comment: