God's Grace Comes on the World through Suffering

As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. ³⁵When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; ³⁶send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.’ ³⁷But he answered them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said to him, ‘Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?’ ³⁸And he said to them, ‘How many loaves have you? Go and see.’ When they had found out, they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ ³⁹Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. ⁴¹Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. ⁴²And all ate and were filled; ⁴³and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. ⁴⁴Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men. (Mark 6: 34-44)

I cannot imagine anything more unsatisfying than bread and fish. But these people were satisfied by the bread and fish that they received. 

The message of this Gospel passage is that we need to take what we have and then know and trust that what we have is enough to satisfy God’s people. We think of the banquets served by wealthy kings or government leaders or people who live in huge mansions. Those banquets may fill us up, but the Lord satisfies us with as little as loaves and fishes as long as bring it to him first. What God gives us may not be satisfying in the eyes of the world, but it is satisfying in the eyes of God because it is given in his grace. There is not only enough for ourselves, but God gives us enough to feed the people of God and to satisfy the deepest longings of one’s heart with Christ. 

Caring for others is our job. Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.” Now I am not good at guarding my expressions. People say that you can read me like a book. So you can imagine what my eyes would have been like, what my facial expression would have been like, if I heard Jesus say to me, in front of all of these hungry people, “You give them something to eat.” How was I going to feed them? 

Nevertheless, God wants us to feed others and not look for Him to do everything. It is our job, our task to feed others and not wait for God to rend open the sky and come down and do it for us. It is our job. “You give them something to eat.” God provides us with the means to feed others. 

Think about the penitential lifestyle you are living. Just by living the way you do, the world takes notice and grace is given. Or maybe your penances are so hidden that most people have no clue that you are doing them. But God knows the voluntary penances you are undertaking out of love for Him.

The world need deeply needs grace, and how do we get grace? Through suffering. People are longing for fullness, but they do not understand the value of suffering. Suffering seems to the world to be as unappetizing as bread and fish, but that is suffering in a worldly view. Maybe the crowd did not even understand what had happened or how the bread and fish were multiplied. The world may not know about your penances, but does it matter? You should still rejoice because grace is coming to the world through those penances, through what the world would consider sufferings like fasting and abstinence and all those prayers and that weeding out of your clothing. Little penances that bring grace into this world. God will satisfy His people through this grace.” You give them something to eat” means to offer up your penances for the world so that they will not only help you to grow in grace but so that they will also bring God’s grace down upon others. It is God’s grace that satisfies more than any bread or fish or any other food.

--Father Jacob Meyer, CFP Visitor