The Catholic Calendar for Monday, August 1, 2005
Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop and doctor of the Church

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Numbers 11:4-15
Psalm 81:12-17
Matthew 14:22-36

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

Today's Reading and Gospel illustrate some very important points for us to examine. First of all, as in the Reading from Number's, we see how Moses when faced with the difficult Israelites, asks God to let him die so that he won't have to put up with them any more. It is a familiar theme; God gives us a task that becomes more like a cross and we ask Him to do it and carry it Himself. We fail to recognize the privilege we have received in having been called to participate in God's plan for salvation. Flattered at first we often fail in time, to remember that it is God who will provide us with the strength and grace to accomplish it.

Jesus demonstrates this in the Gospel when He encourages the disciples to do what seems impossible by man's standards - to feed the huge crowd with only "five loaves and a couple of fish." What Jesus says is very important, "bring them here," and in so doing they find access to divine intervention and have more left over than anyone could imagine.

The lesson for us is to turn to God when we are weary and then to cooperate with Him as He patiently and lovingly shows us the way He has chosen. It is not always an easy thing for we are used to coming up with our own solutions and less inclined to be sensitive to God's. We will however get better at it if daily prayer and frequent reception of the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation are what we depend on for direction and wisdom.

- Donna Raye Nelson, OCDS
(drn3rd at hotmail dot com)

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