Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
God is a good and generous Father. He makes known this generosity to us through His Son many times in the scriptures, and the Gospel today reminds us of this.
The Apostles continuously remind us of ourselves throughout the scriptures by their inability to remain completely trustworthy in the Father’s care and generosity. The Twelve had forgotten to pack enough food for the day during Jesus’ lesson. This mistake was all they could think about as Jesus warned about the “leaven of the Pharisees” and the “leaven of Herod.” They might have felt inadequate or ashamed for making this mistake. Christ displays His love for His disciples as He reminds them of the incredible miracles He had worked before. In fact, He spells out exactly how it happened and how much abundance He provided.
Very often, we forget the abundance of mercy and generosity God has given to us. We forget the times when the Lord filled in the gap that our human limitations left when we tried to accomplish tasks on our own. God truly asks one thing of us and that is to remain completely reliant on Him for all things in our lives. When we choose to ignore this fact and live out of self-reliance, pressure begins to build. All the weight and burdens in life begin to get heavier and heavier. By allowing God to take the weight, at least for a bit, we can rest and be at peace. This is why Christ carried the burden of the cross. The weight of the cross is the weight of our sins. He wants to do the heavy lifting for us, but we must choose to give it to Him.
Reflection by Caleb, seminarian, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections