Reflection
The goodness and kindness of God looks grand and great when we think of Him as a God despite being all-powerful has the time to be concerned about our needs. Our Sunday readings however invite us to look at God, not the all-powerful, but one who is intimate and personal. Our four readings unite in one theme: that God is a parent, both our Father and Mother.
Only a parent can feel the needs of their children. Strangers may find it difficult to understand our needs and experiences. It is our fathers and our mothers who, by instinct and by blood, can immediately share our pains and sufferings. The intimate and familial connection of parent and child enables a father and mother to brave all difficulties to provide for their children.
How then does God feel our needs? Although we are not born from God by blood, we were born from him in love. As Christian mystics would describe it, God loved us into existence. Out of this unconditional love, God seeks to provide for his people, for his children. From the depths of his kindness and mercy, God answers all our needs, but above all gives us the greatest satisfaction.
The great love of God for us that St. Paul beautifully sings of in his letter has one desire. Nothing in this world can stop God's love from offering us life. "Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life," Isaiah would proclaim. It is from this concern that Jesus, looking at the crowd, decided to feed them himself.
St. Matthew gives a preview of the Eucharist when he writes that Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, said the blessing, broke them, and gave them to the disciples and the crowd. Four gestures that we call the Eucharistic actions we celebrate in every Holy Mass. We, like the crowd, could only be satisfied when Jesus gives us himself. If God is self-giving, it is because he is Father and we are his children.
The goodness and kindness of God looks grand and great when we think of Him as a God despite being all-powerful has the time to be concerned about our needs. Our Sunday readings however invite us to look at God, not the all-powerful, but one who is intimate and personal. Our four readings unite in one theme: that God is a parent, both our Father and Mother.
Only a parent can feel the needs of their children. Strangers may find it difficult to understand our needs and experiences. It is our fathers and our mothers who, by instinct and by blood, can immediately share our pains and sufferings. The intimate and familial connection of parent and child enables a father and mother to brave all difficulties to provide for their children.
How then does God feel our needs? Although we are not born from God by blood, we were born from him in love. As Christian mystics would describe it, God loved us into existence. Out of this unconditional love, God seeks to provide for his people, for his children. From the depths of his kindness and mercy, God answers all our needs, but above all gives us the greatest satisfaction.
The great love of God for us that St. Paul beautifully sings of in his letter has one desire. Nothing in this world can stop God's love from offering us life. "Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life," Isaiah would proclaim. It is from this concern that Jesus, looking at the crowd, decided to feed them himself.
St. Matthew gives a preview of the Eucharist when he writes that Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, said the blessing, broke them, and gave them to the disciples and the crowd. Four gestures that we call the Eucharistic actions we celebrate in every Holy Mass. We, like the crowd, could only be satisfied when Jesus gives us himself. If God is self-giving, it is because he is Father and we are his children.
