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SPIRITUAL LIVING
Prayer and Devotions
Give Your Whole Life to Christ
by Father Roderick Ermatinger, LC
Resolution: Be an authentic generous Christian with all the people you meet this day.
January 8, 2008
Christmas Weekday
Mark 6: 34-44
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. When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat." But 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?" And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." When they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. Taking 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. And all ate and were filled.
Introductory Prayer: My heavenly Father, you made me out of your infinite love. Even though I have failed to love you as a good child should, still you send me gift upon gift. You sent your Son to redeem me and to make me one with you, in and through your Son. You and your only beloved Son sent your Spirit of Love and Truth, the Holy Spirit, to dwell in my heart, mind and body. Open my heart and eyes to all that you have done for me and continue to do for me, so that I will grow in generosity with you, your Church, and all of your children. Perfect me in the fire of your love, and, as you sent your only Son and your most Holy Spirit, send me into this world to set it ablaze.
Petition: Lord Jesus, bless me with the gift of generosity.
1. You Give Us Everything We Need. Christ is the good shepherd. He wants to feed all his sheep, the lost and the found. He knows our every need; he has compassion for us as he sees all of our sufferings. For those who accept him, our Lord feeds us first with his grace, then with his teachings, and then with his body and blood. He gives us all we need for our body and our soul. How often do we think that we are lacking something? Where do we look for it? Do we go to Christ, or do we go someplace else?
2. Turn Towards Christ. We see a marked difference in attitude between the apostles in this Gospel passage and the Blessed Virgin Mary. At Cana, when Mary saw that the wine was almost gone, she turned to her son (John 2:1-11). Here, when the apostles saw that the people were short of food, they turned their minds to the local villages. Both Mary and the apostles had compassion for the plight of the people; yet it was Mary who chose the better solution. Christ wants to know if we think he is the one who can resolve every situation we find ourselves in. Christ will test us: Do we want to rely on pragmatic solutions, or do we want to rely on him?
3. Be Generous with Christ. If we are honest, we must admit that we have very little to give Our Lord. Whatever we have that is of any value to Our Lord is, in one way or another, attributable to Our Lord himself. This highlights the reality of how little we are and how great God is. Consider the little boy who had the two fish and five loaves of bread. He and his family must have been hungry. He could have told Jesus and the apostles to get their own food. But instead he gave all that he had to Jesus, even though, in light of the needs of the multitudes, it was quite a puny gift. Look what happened with that act of generosity – Christ showed his glory and power! The apostles fed the multitudes, they gathered the leftovers, and they grew in faith. How has this act of generosity touched us?
Conversation with Christ: Lord, how can I decrease so you can increase? My heart burns with an intense desire to give you everything; yet so often I refuse to give you to others. Help me to see the beauty of giving you to others.
Resolution: I will be an authentic generous Christian with all the people I meet this day.
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