Tuesday.blog
The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Tuesday after Epiphany
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious, founder
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
1 John 4:7-10
Psalm 72:1-4,7-8
Mark 6:34-44
A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:
Today's Gospel, according to Mark, is the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. In a recent review of a study on the Gospel of Mark, the presenter brought to our attention that in this story Jesus first said to His apostles: "Give the people something to eat" before the miracle occurred.
It's strange that Jesus would say something like that just to make the point that they (the apostles could hardly begin to feed such a multitude) and to point up that, "Oh, by the way, watch Me and see what I can do."
That behavior isn't consistent with Jesus. So what did He mean when he told the apostles to give the people something to eat? Of course we don't know for sure, but if we take Jesus' word at face value, it seems He thought the apostles could do "something" to help, something to alleviate the problem of the moment.
Often we're quick to think that we have nothing to offer and that someone else will have to come to the rescue. Perhaps Jesus was encouraging the Apostles to be a little creative, a little trusting and to do at least what was in their power.
And what was in their power but to search out what little was available and make it available to the Lord who can do all things. Isn't that the lesson for us, to put our gifts however seemingly small and insignificant at the disposal of the Lord who can multiply beyond our belief what little we thought we had?
"And they ate until they had their fill
and gathered up enough leftovers to fill twelve baskets."
- Donna Nelson, OCDS
(drn3rd at hotmail dot com)
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