This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
If we understood the full scope of our mission as Christians, we may well gripe and moan just as Moses did in the first reading.
Moses had witnessed God’s great forbearance with the Israelites, and His kindness to them in the midst of their ingratitude. He had witnessed how God had sent down not only miraculous bread from heaven, but meat as well in the form of quail. This, after rescuing the Israelites from slavery to their great joy–something that, in this passage at least, they seem to have forgotten about entirely.
Moses is simply done with them. He’s over it. He’s asking God for relief–even if it means the relief of death. He just can’t stand being responsible for them anymore.
We observe the same ingratitude toward God throughout society in our time. What perhaps we don’t always realize, though, is that we have a responsibility analogous to that of Moses–we have a responsibility to bring this unruly lot to salvation, by enabling the application of Jesus’ infinitely powerful act of salvation to them, through our prayer/sacrifice and through our outward action and evangelization.
It may be discouraging. It may be something that we’d like to shirk, like Moses. It may be exasperating. But the Heart of Christ won’t let go of this; He loves them too much.
We see it in today’s gospel. He takes pity on the hungry crowd. He feels pangs of pain at the idea of sending them away when there is more of His message to impart to them. So He feeds them, miraculously, Himself.
How He wants to feed today’s masses the Bread of Life! And He has no means to draw them to Himself. Except you and me.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus for patience and courage to put your shoulder to the plow and keep soldiering on in the work of salvation, never becoming discouraged at the unresponsiveness of the people Jesus loves.
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