In the midst of a pandemic, our Sunday Scriptures console and reassure. Thus says the Lord:…come, receive grain and eat; come without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! (1st reading). What will separate us from the love of Christ? … peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. … (2nd reading). …He said the blessing, broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied… (Gospel). Miracles, like the multiplication of the loaves and fish in Matthew’s Gospel, or like the multiplication of the bread by the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:43) are meant to show the glory and power of God, and thereby teach us who is really in charge of the universe. The pandemic is something like that. It is teaching us what we are usually too preoccupied to notice: that we are not as powerful as we thought, that we can be easily defeated and become ruled by fear, that we are a life form that must co-exist with other life forms in a universe that is not always benevolent. Within this setting we hear again the reassurance that we are accompanied by a God who feeds us with presence and other power. Take a moment to share bread with someone you love today.
– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia