Nourishment

The WORD today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/021117.cfm) reminds me that God can give us not only physical, but more importantly, spiritual nourishment. 

We Filipinos have a special love for food. During the holidays, people look forward to gatherings and get togethers not just because of the company but because of the food as well. We all love to eat, that’s why a lot get bigger after the holidays. We love food, and we need food for nourishment. In the gospel, we see how Jesus gives us nourishment as well. 

The gospel tells us one of the more famous gospels – Jesus feeding thousands. We see Jesus feeding the people, not just physically when he multiplied food for them, but first, spiritually, which was the primary food he gave them, even before the physical food. Then when it was late and dark already, Christ gave them physical food for their bodies.

God loves us so much that he gives us not only spiritual nourishment, but also physical nourishment. 

In life, it is easy to get busy. It is easy to lose focus. It is easy to be distracted. We may forget hat is essential. Unlike our body that tells us when we need physical nourishment, our souls are not always that explicit. Or we do not always recognize our souls telling us we need spiritual food. But we should remember that we need not look anywhere else. Jesus will give us everything. He can, and he will. We just need to come to him. We just need to trust him.  

May we be inspired to not only nourish our bodies, but more importantly, our spirit.

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another weekend. Thank you for the reminder that you nourish not only our body but our spirit as well. Lord, sorry for the times I ignore the hunger of my soul, of my spirit. Sorry for being lazy to feed my spirit. Lord, I ask that you be with me in a special way this weekend. Help me always be reminded to nourish not only my body, but more importantly, my spirit as well. Lord, it is easy to know and be reminded when my body is weak, when I am hungry, but not as easy to detect spiritual hunger…so I ask you Lord that you disturb me, wake me up and give me warnings when my spirit is running low, when I am spiritually hungry as well. And Lord, may I be sensitive and respond to it. Amen.

Blessed weekend!

In Christ,

-g-

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February 11, 2017
Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 334

Reading 1 Gn 3:9-24

The LORD God called to Adam and asked him, "Where are you?"
He answered, "I heard you in the garden;
but I was afraid, because I was naked,
so I hid myself."
Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked?
You have eaten, then,
from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"
The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with meB
she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it."
The LORD God then asked the woman,
"Why did you do such a thing?"
The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."

Then the LORD God said to the serpent:

"Because you have done this, you shall be banned
from all the animals
and from all the wild creatures;
On your belly shall you crawl,
and dirt shall you eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
He will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel."

To the woman he said:

"I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing;
in pain shall you bring forth children.
Yet your urge shall be for your husband,
and he shall be your master."

To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat,

"Cursed be the ground because of you!
In toil shall you eat its yield
all the days of your life.
Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you,
as you eat of the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
shall you get bread to eat,
Until you return to the ground,
from which you were taken;
For you are dirt,
and to dirt you shall return."
The man called his wife Eve,
because she became the mother of all the living.

For the man and his wife the LORD God made leather garments,
with which he clothed them.
Then the LORD God said: "See! The man has become like one of us,
knowing what is good and what is evil!
Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand
to take fruit from the tree of life also,
and thus eat of it and live forever."
The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden,
to till the ground from which he had been taken.
When he expelled the man,
he settled him east of the garden of Eden;
and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword,
to guard the way to the tree of life.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 90:2, 3-4abc, 5-6, 12-13

R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Before the mountains were begotten
and the earth and the world were brought forth,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, "Return, O children of men."
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Alleluia Mt 4:4b

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mk 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.