7/28/21

How did God speak to you today?  As I have been growing in my spirituality I am discovering more and more ways in which God is speaking to me.  He was always there, I was just not in tune with His presence.  Do you pay attention to the words of the hymns and songs when you attend Mass?   The entrance hymn at Mass this past Sunday, “We Come With Joy” by Delores Dufner, carried a very clear message to me.  And, like, all of God’s messages, it was delivered at the most opportune time.   The second verse of this hymn starts: 
               A little bread is all we have,
               So meager our supply—

The gospel focused on the “little bread” that satisfied the crowd of five thousand.  God took that little bit of food and multiplied it to fulfill the needs of the crowd—the crowd of people seeking Jesus.  I can imagine this was a very diverse crowd, each one at different points on the path God intended for him or her.  Yet each one in some way, consciously or unconsciously, thirsting for something more.   
            The verse continues:
            A little time, a little love
           Can hardly satisfy. 

I might need to sit down.  Did I really hear what I just thought I heard?  The sentence from the hymn described the past two weeks for me. 

It has been one of those times where it seems like no matter what I do, I can’t win.  At each turn, one more thing seems to go wrong.  No matter what I try, I cannot overcome the challenges at work or in my relationships.  This is not the first time I have felt like this, and it likely won’t be the last.  I have too little time.  Too little love to go around.  Not enough energy, patience, kindness, wisdom, faith, trust...I am falling short on every front.  I am trying Lord, but these gifts you have given me are just not enough.  This little bit of “bread” is not going to satisfy the hungry problems and people around me.  How am I going to do all of this?  For some, the situation can be so dire they may even be asking how am I going to survive this? 

Perhaps this is similar to the feeling Christ experienced when he called out from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”  Perhaps too, this was the same desperation felt by Elisha’s servant when his master insisted he feed the enormous crowd with basically crumbs.  What were the disciples whispering to each other when Jesus expected them to feed five THOUSAND people with TWO fish and FIVE loaves of bread?  Really?!?!  Feed all of these people with this?!?!?!  Jesus, with all due respect, we said we had two fish, not two hundred!  He would have gotten a few skeptical glances from me, that’s for sure.  The disciples must have felt like this was an impossible task.  An unwinnable situation.   Maybe they wanted to just sit down and cry.  Or run away.  Yet, they did as Jesus commanded and look what happened! In a time of desperation when your gifts—tangible or intangible—are running low how do you respond?    

Ok.  I blacked out there for a second.  Back to standing in church.  The opening hymn ends:
            For Christ will bless our bit of bread,
            The loaves our hands provide.
            Till empty baskets overflow
             And all are satisfied.

My gifts alone, though God-given, will never be enough to fulfill the call I have received regardless of what that call may be.  I am human.  We are all human.  When left alone, we will always fall short of God.  But if I bring my gifts to God and place my whole self in His hands—my “bit of bread”—God will make that enough.  He will multiply all that I have and all that I am to persevere through any situation and use me to point the crowd on the path toward Him.   
Place your gifts in God’s hands, however meager they may seem. There are thousands waiting to be satisfied.