By Sherry Antonetti

 

 

In the readings today, Isaiah speaks of the Lord of hosts providing us with a  feast of rich food and choice wines.  We’re also assured, “the Lord is our shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.”  And in the Gospel, Christ heals and then feeds the crowd with the seven loaves and few fish, with seven baskets filled from the fragments afterward. God longs to feed us, it is us who refuse the food.  Sometimes, we recognize we are starving, but do not know it is God we long for.

Going to Adoration just before the election, I felt overwhelmed by Covid-19, by the rancor in our country, by the struggles within my own family (adult children seeking employment, adolescent struggles, and the listlessness that comes from more than seven months of restricted life outside the bubble of our own homes).  I cried at Jesus in the Monstrance.  I begged Mary, “Please, hold my hand.”  I felt empty from all the problems I couldn’t solve, from all the crushing crosses of the world.

Almost immediately after I said this in my heart, the priest came outside to give those of us praying before the Eucharist—the gift of receiving the Eucharist. Mary heard my cry and brought me her Son immediately. It felt almost comically joyful. I’d stumbled into the Mass and found myself being fed the bread of Heaven, like those who must have wandered after the crowd to see what was happening, to see who was speaking, and found themselves fed from the loaves and the fishes by Christ.

So today, ask God to feed you and prepare for the choicest of wines, the richest of foods.  Ask and you will receive.  Trust to Christ your heart, and you will eat and be satisfied.  You will also have much left over to bring to others who hunger, seven baskets full of fragments to share.

 

About the author:

Sherry Antonetti is a Catholic wife/mother and teacher. You can find her work at the Catholic Standard and National Catholic Register. Email her at sherryantonettiwrites@yahoo.com. Author of The Book of Helen, freelancer and blogger @Chocolate For Your Brain!