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Monday, July 7, 2014

given, monday

Monday, July 7

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer: Our Father, here I am, at your disposal, your child, to use me to continue your loving the world, by giving Jesus to me and through me, to each other and the world.  Let us pray for each other as we allow Jesus to love in us and through us with the love with which His Father loves him. (Seeking the Heart of God by Mother Teresa)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Mark 6:30-44

Reading for Reflection:

                        You give them something to eat. (Mark 6:37)

     It seems to me that there are two basic mistakes we tend to make as we read these words.  The first is thinking that we actually have enough to give those starving, hungry masses that we are called to give ourselves to.  They are starving for life.  They are starving for meaning.  And we hear these words of Jesus and think, oh yeah, I got this.  Let me at 'em.  And, before long, we return, tail firmly between our legs...frustrated, tired, broken, thinking to ourselves: "How could I ever have believed that I actually had what these hungry ones were looking for?"  We get devoured.  They feed on us, we feed on them—it's one big dysfunctional feeding frenzy.  For it is not us that they need to feed on, and not them that can satisfy the deepest longings of our soul. 
     Or maybe a much more dangerous and seductive thing happens.  Maybe it actually seems to work.  Maybe they seem to like this food.  Maybe, for a while, things seem to be going well.  They are loving what I'm feeding them, and I am loving that they are loving it.  But what they are feeding on is not what they were made to feed on, it's merely cotton candy—sweet to the taste, but toxic to the soul.  It will never last, it will never sustain, it will never allow them to grow in God.  Simply put, it is not eternal.  And eventually we (and they) will realize it.
     The second mistake we seem to make is to think that we don't have anything to offer.  This too, is a lethal line of thinking.  Why else would Jesus turn to the disciples and say these words?  Maybe because he wanted them to recognize that they do have something to give, however small and insignificant that something may appear to be.  And maybe because he wanted them to know exactly what that something was that they did have to give.  Anything we have, we have only because it has been given to us to begin with.  For when God made us—when he dreamt us into being—he breathed certain things into us (into you) that were breathed into no one else.  And He breathed those specific things into us in order that we might give them to others in a way that uniquely expresses Him.  The magic happens when we recognize what we have been uniquely given, and then give it back to Him.  Once placed firmly in His hands it becomes way more than it ever could have been on its own.  He then, in turn, is able to give it back to us, in abundance, to pass along to the starving, hungry people that sit on the hillsides of our lives, yearning for meaning and substance and life.

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself
             
Closing Prayer: Almighty God, cause your good gifts to flow in and through my life and ministry this day and always.  Amen.

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