“SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER”
Daily Spiritual Reflections
5th January 2022
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WEDNESDAY, OCTAVE OF EPIPHANY
1 Jn 4: 11-18; Ps 72: 1-2,10,12-13; Mk 6: 45-52
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GOD’S LOVE IS ALL WE NEED
Today’s gospel passage follows the great miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish for the five thousand. Let us turn our attention to the last line, which says that the apostles did not understand anything that Jesus did. The original Greek word used for ‘understand’ is “suniemi” which describes the process of analysing evidence in order to come to a conclusion. The disciples wanted to believe that Jesus was the Messiah who had come to make their lives easier and richer. What they didn’t see was that Jesus wasn’t there to give them what they wanted, but to provide them with what they needed in order to accomplish God's work (cf. Phil 4:12-13). The miracle of the five thousand fulfilled the physical need (hunger) of the people who came to listen to Jesus. The act of love that multiplied the loaves and the fish satiated a spiritual need, for those who beheld this miracle.
Note the contrast between the disciples “out on the sea” without Jesus, and Jesus “alone on the land”, gone up on the mountain to pray. They learn that they are not forsaken, that the Lord watches over them unseen. He comes to their aid, because he is whom they need. Yet, at the time, their hearts were hardened and therefore, they were afraid. They wanted safety, assurance and familiarity. They needed faith.
While this is a story about needs and wants, it is also a story about love. At the end of a long day beset by crowds, Jesus might have wanted to sleep, but he climbed a mountain to be by himself, and pray – he needed time alone with his Father. With the waves breaking over the boat, the disciples panicked. They could not come to believe that the Lord had seen them and was approaching in love. To attain the peace of God’s abiding presence, we need to commune with the Lord in love, interact in faith and be consoled by his loving words, “Do not be afraid.”
Response: All nations on earth shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord
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