1 Kgs 12:26-32; 13:33-34 Ps 106:6-7ab, 19-20, 21-22 Mk 8:1-10

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

When I was younger I was a “Sunday Catholic”. Outside of church I never prayed, never read the bible and never thought about my faith. Sure, I would go to church on Sunday mornings, but even then my thoughts were occupied with what I would be doing the rest of the day. As I grew older I felt like something was missing in my life. I couldn’t tell you what it was, but I was yearning for something more. It never occurred to me that God was the answer to the hole I was trying to fill. But then one day I got a call from a man I had never met. His name was David and he invited me to become a peer minister at my church. For some reason I said yes. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into and I definitely didn’t know that by saying “yes” I just changed the course of my life. It took many, many months of helping out at the church but I finally felt a little more “whole” inside.

Hunger can take on many forms: physical hunger, emotional hunger, spiritual hunger. Jesus knew that I was spiritually hungry and he helped me fulfill this need. That’s the amazing thing about our Lord: he knows our needs and he can satisfy them. Jesus is a compassionate Savior. When he saw the 4,000 people he knew that they were not only physically hungry, but spiritually hungry as well – why else would they stay with him for three days when they didn’t have anything to eat? And we are told that Jesus’ heart went out to these people. So he took 7 loaves of bread and a few fish, gave thanks, and miraculously this small amount of food fed thousands of people.  Jesus fulfilled their needs and the same is true with us – he will always take care of his children. Even if it seems like we don’t have enough, Jesus will always satisfy our needs.

We too can be examples of Christ. We may not have enough “bread and fish” to feed 4,000 people but we were given gifts and compassion that could affect many. Sometimes it’s easier to say, “I can’t give enough money, so my small gift won’t even make a difference” or “I only have an hour a week to volunteer, so it’s not really worth it.” But what if Jesus had thought that way? What if he had thought, “I don’t have nearly enough food to feed this crowd, so why even try?” But he didn’t think that. Jesus can make big, great things out of the small, and so can we.  It’s amazing how much you can do with so little. Today we are called to give thanks to our compassionate Lord who knows our needs and knows how to satisfy them. We are called to question: 'what are we hungering for? Is it a spiritual hunger that only our Lord can fill?' And we are called to be examples of Christ by “doing our little perfectly." We are called to spread our compassion, because even if it doesn’t seem like much, we cannot know how many lives we can touch.