More than enough, always more than enough!

Today is Friday, its August 21, and I'm still a great deal behind, trying to catch up on Sunday reflections from July. But its a Friday night and I'm in Ohio, away from what is my "Friday night family". Friday night means a myriad of different things to different people, but for me Friday night of the better part of the past 6 years has meant one thing in particular, and that is Friday night family. A tradition that was started my junior year of high school and continued all the way up until I moved to Ohio. Either at my moms house or at a local happy hour there were a group of us that gathered, none of us related but all united around this weekly meal, some weeks there were 3 or 4 of us, other weeks 9 or 10, no matter what there were always two things present, and that is the tile of this post, there was more than enough, always more than enough. More than enough food, as there always is in my mothers house, whether its a Friday night, a holiday or simply a Tuesday for lunch, there is more than enough food. Yet there was always also more than enough love. That is precisely what brings people together. We become gathered around a table, a round a meal.

The above story however was not the first thing that came to my mind when looking over the readings from the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (July 26), the first thing that came to mind was sitting at Kava house with my dear friend Kara. We were sitting there pretending to study, and read while really taking a Catholic survey a friend had posted on Facebook. The specific question that immediately came to mind was which of Christ's miracles did we find most amazing?! My friend Kara immediately told me hers was the walking through walls after his resurrection. When I did not share this thought with her, she proceeded to say "are you joking me, through walls as she passionately tapped on the window we were sitting by with her finger tips, leaving finger prints that I have no doubt are still there. Now while this response gave me pause and admittedly left me re thinking my answer, I naturally said the feeding of the multitudes (5,000 or 4,000) I've always been blown away by the fact that the bread (and fish) were multiplied, enough to make sure that all were feed! There was more than enough.

It is interesting that this specific account of the feeding came up, because it is from the Gospel of John (6:1-15), which may not seem odd, however we are in the year of Mark, so one may be left wondering, why did we hear from John. Simple answer, Mark's gospel is to short, and can't be used on every Sunday of the year, and since the church is on a three year cycle, Matthew Mark and Luke, John gets peppered in where it is appropriate, and opportune.

Now why do we care that it is John's gospel, at first glance, or first listen many of us probably don't, that is where homilies come in handy. It was Fr. G who clued us in as to why we care.

If you noticed above I placed fish in (parentheses) this is because while we have fish at the beginning of the account, they are not what is left. What is left is enough bread to fill twelve baskets. John not having a last supper account in his gospel, Fr. G points out that here we see a beginning of this breaking of bread, only in John's gospel account of the feeding of the multitudes do we hear the words "then Jesus took the loaves gave thanks and distributed them" John uniquely gives thanks, the other gospels do not highlight this fact. Am I willing to make the claim that this is John's passover account, perhaps yes, perhaps not. Yet I will argue that this is worth pausing over, taking time to reflect on it.

May there be more than enough, always more than enough! More than enough food, and always more than enough love, after all that is what Christ truly gives to us at the last supper.

Stay tuned for more posts, this is only the beginning of the idea of bread, more to come, and hopefully I will find enough to write and reflect on.

Peace and Blessings Always 

~M