Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 6, 2019
[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
A few days ago, I noticed a piece of cardboard on the ground. Someone had written these three questions on it: “Bus pass? Cigarette? Time to chat?”
I am a case manager at a homeless shelter in downtown Denver, which means that I bear daily witness to both incredible resilience and incredible suffering. Heartbreak is part of my every day, as I walk alongside individuals recovering from physical or mental illness, healing from trauma, and gaining the skills they need to maintain housing.
We help our clients find affordable housing, gain income, and save money. Our shelter tries to provide for our clients’ “basic needs”: shelter and meals, bus passes and cigarettes. Yet, when a client tells me about the abuse, loss, and loneliness they face, I confront the reality that income, savings and housing are not remedies. They do not fill anyone. As essential as they are, they are still only the food that perishes.
Of the items listed on the cardboard, what is the food that endures? The answer is simple: the food that endures is the love that takes time to chat, to listen, to be with people in their suffering rather than try to fix the suffering. In the movie Monsieur Vincent, St. Vincent de Paul says, “It is only for your love alone, that the poor will forgive the bread you give them.”
Love is the bread that fills us, the food that endures for eternal life. It was not because of the bread that the people in today’s Gospel were filled, but because of the love with which it was given to them.
What unperishable food can we give to fill one another today?
Prayer
Lord, we are often tempted to work for “food that perishes.” Too often we take the easy road and the sure thing. We come to you today with open hands, that we may be filled with the food that endures for eternal life. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Rose Maria Benedetta experienced all the sorrow life could bring a wife and mother, and she responded by growing in compassion for others who were suffering.
She was born in 1831 in Genoa, Italy, one of six children in a well-to-do family. She married in 1852 and the couple had three children. The family moved to Marseilles, France, but had to return to Genoa because of financial trouble. During this time, their oldest child got sick and was left mute and deaf. Then, Rose's husband died in 1858, and a few months later, her youngest child died of an illness.
It seems that her suffering led her to greater compassion for those who also suffer. She continued to care for her two remaining children, but she began to develop a fervent spiritual life, and actively reached out to others who were poor or experiencing pain in some way.
She preferred to remain private with her devotion, but she became known for her insight and holiness, and people started to seek her out. She discerned a call to form her own religious community. Even though everyone around her encouraged her to follow this call, she was afraid that her children would not receive enough attention from her. She spoke to the pope about it in 1866, with the hope that he would affirm her fears, but he told her to begin working on the new community right away. She was allowed to continue raising and caring for her children as she began this important work.
Later that year, she founded an order of sisters under the name of St. Anne, the mother of Mary. Its mission was to care for the poor and sick. She and 12 other sisters professed their vows and she took the name Anna Rosa. By the time she died in 1900, 3,500 sisters had joined the order, living in 368 community houses around the world. They built hostels and schools, and took on a special ministry to the deaf and mute. Today, the order is associated with the Movement of Hope, the Contemplative Order of the Daughters of St. Anne, and the Sons of St. Anne.
Blessed Anna Rosa Gattorno, you transformed your sorrow into hope for the poor and sick—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Anna Rosa Gattorno is used with permission from Catholic Online.