Food for body and soul

A number of years ago, I was invited to work with a group of Christian faith leaders to organize an outdoor faith gathering.  One of the first planning meetings took place early in the morning – a breakfast meeting.  We began by talking about the importance of such gatherings: people from various Christian faith traditions don’t always gather to pray together, so this was a significant moment indeed.  At one point, after we had discussed the significance of this gathering, someone said that we should pray, asking God to provide everything that we needed for this endeavour to be successful, and so we did ... then someone else observed: We should make a list of the people we need to contact, any reservations of space that need to be done, advertising that has to be done, etc.  In other words, we can’t always rely on God to provide for our needs if we’re not willing to do our part too.

We see evidence of this in today’s first reading.  The Israelites have been freed from slavery in Egypt and led into the Promised Land, but even there, they are not happy.  The problem was that they had not yet realized the need to ask God for what they wanted.  Instead they just murmured among themselves and misdirected their anger toward Moses and Aaron: If only we had died ... in the land of Egypt ... but you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger (Ex 16:3).

The same was true of the crowds who followed Jesus.  They knew that they wanted bread, but they did not truly understand the significance of the bread that Jesus gave.  Instead, they kept looking for more signs (cf Jn 6:30).

Have we ever found ourselves in such situations: asking God for help, but unaware of the fact that we too need to contribute our talents in order to find solutions to the situations that challenge us, or somehow expecting that God will provide us with some kind of magical response to our prayer?

Like the Israelites in the desert, like the crowds who went to Capernaum looking for Jesus (Jn 6:24), we too need to do our part.  First, whenever we encounter a challenge, it might help to look at it not in a negative light but rather to try seeing it as an opportunity.  If we are able to train ourselves not to see life as a series of negative experiences but rather as possibilities for positive outcomes, we will also be able to set out in search of Jesus, and we will also be able to recognize the signs that he provides: the true bread from heaven that our Father provides for us (cf Jn 6:32), his constant presence, his support and his love that strengthens our resolve to be his disciples day after day.

It was because Saint Paul had encountered the Lord, and because his heart and soul had been nourished by the presence of the Lord that he was able to advise the early Christians living in Ephesus: put away your former way of life ... and be renewed in the spirit of your minds ... clothe yourselves with Christ (Eph 4:22-24).  Let this be our prayer this week.  Amen.