​Eat! Give them something to eat!
 
These are the words, not of Jesus, but of every Filipino mother. Ever. As soon as I would walk through the door with my friends, my mother would inevitably ask: “Have you eaten? Eat! Give them something to eat!” Some of you will be unfamiliar with this innate need Filipino women have to feed those within five feet of them. But those who have experienced it are probably laughing or at least smiling. It’s funny – because it’s true!
 
Because of this, potlucks sometimes cause me anxiety. I will often pray under my breath, “Loaves and fishes Lord, loaves and fishes!” Because if there’s not enough food, my mama will roll over in her grave! Yet, every potluck there is always enough. It might be mostly one type of food (hello dessert buffet!) but more often than not, like the 5000 in Matthew’s gospel, all ate and were filled. Not sure biblical scholars would agree, but in my mind the feeding of the 5000 is a story about a potluck. Like the Disciples, we can often worry that there won’t be enough, yet Jesus knows there is enough because God provides – through us. Jesus says, “You give them something to eat.” The key word is “you”. Sure, Jesus is the Son of Man and the Son of God and as such, He can do more than we can ever imagine. Yet He desires to do the unimaginable for us, with us, and through us. 
 
Jesus’s words could be read as delegating. But really, He is calling the Disciples out. He knows they have the ability to “feed” those around them. A big COVID-19 lesson for me, is in witnessing all the ways people are striving to “feed” others and proving that there is enough. We may not do it perfectly, but we are trying. Even when it seems resources are sparse, we find enough to fill the immediate needs of those around us and ourselves. We’ve heard the phrase, “in this together” over and over. But really, each person’s experience of the pandemic is personal. However, if we are Christ’s disciples today, then we are in this together. Jesus calls us to task. You and I are able to offer the other “something to eat”.
 
One of the things I love about a potluck is the variety that can appear on the shared table. People bring what they are able, be it their grandmother’s no fail pasta salad, a new instant pot recipe they wanted to try, or the infamous veggie tray from the grocery store of their choosing. The point is, people bring a part of who they are and in turn contribute to literally feeding their brothers and sisters. What if we thought about spiritually feeding one another in the same way? Like the Disciples we can automatically turn to the “experts”, our priests, deacons, religious – when in reality, we all have “food” to give.

Let’s bring what we have, because it will be enough.




Aurea Sadi

Like many teens keen to experience the freedom of the open road, I enrolled in a driver’s education course as soon as I came of age. My instructor for the in-car sessions was probably just a few years older than I was, but he fancied himself both a man of the world and a bit of a clever clogs. During one lesson he directed me to change lanes, so I looked in my rear-view mirror to check for cars behind me. My eyes must have lingered longer than necessary because he said, “Take a snapshot, not a movie.”


Despite myself, I was impressed with this pithy warning — although, let’s face it, he probably said this to all the students with precisely the same air of nonchalance. Still it was, and is, good advice. Spending too much time looking in the rear-view mirror is hazardous; it distracts us from what’s happening in front of us. Take a snapshot, not a movie.


When Saint Paul, in the second reading, asks what or who will separate us from the love of Christ, he names things with which so many of us have been acquainted in body, mind, or spirit: hardship, distress, persecution, famine, or nakedness. Then he declares that not one thing “in all creation” can separate us from the love of God — not even death.


But then I think, what about the past? What about things that happened to me years — sometimes decades — ago, things that stir up within me feelings of guilt or resentment or betrayal, things that drag me down, making it hard for me to focus on what’s in front of me, things that linger in the present because I have not yet been able to free myself of them? And I have to admit, yes, they can distance me from the love of God.


Does that mean Saint Paul is wrong?


Well, no, I don’t think he is. But I have to acknowledge that although God will never take His love from me, I sometimes find myself in a state too broken and distracted to receive His love. I am looking in the rear-view mirror, reliving past hurts — done by me and to me — and I cannot see the Love that is in front of me. When this happens, it’s time to seek the healing of reconciliation.


The past has much to teach me, but I cannot spend too much time re-viewing it. The past is there for reference. Take a snapshot, not a movie.




Let us Pray:

Lord, open my heart to receive Your love, a love that makes us conquerors of everything in creation, even our brokenness. Meet me in the sacrament of reconciliation, heal my wounds with Your mercy, free me of my past and set me on the road to an ever-deepening faith. Amen.




Donna Davis