Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Intention: For all caregivers in this time of pandemic, that they may be blessed with strength, resilience, and confidence as they continue in their ministry of healing and hope for all those that they serve.
Today’s Gospel | Mark 8:1-10
In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.” His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets. There were about four thousand people.
He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
From the Ninth Meditation for the Time of Retreat | Saint John Baptist de La Salle
Because your ministry has for its purpose to procure the salvation of souls, the first concern you ought to have is to procure this goal as far as you are able. You must in this imitate God to some extent, for he so loved the souls he created that when he saw them involved in sin and unable to be freed from sin by themselves, the zeal and affection that he had for their salvation led him to send his own Son to rescue them from their miserable condition. This is what made Jesus Christ say that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life.
Prayer
Eternal Father, we live in a world where people are starving for want of what will feed their bodies, as well as feed their minds and their spirits. Help us to believe that it is within our reach to help. May we turn away from doubt and cynicism and rise to the challenge of ending the hungers of our time. Make us a people who see with eyes of faith and compassion and who act with the zeal of hope and justice. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.