We're Meant to Be Broken

As Claire McGarry ponders why Jesus broke the bread before He multiplied it, she comes to a new realization.

I've been broken in big and small ways at various points throughout my life. We all have. There's not a one of us who would say it doesn't hurt. Even after we've healed, scars remain. Far too often though, we see those scars as marks of failure rather than ribbons of victory.

If we looked more closely at those scars, we'd see they actually became our growing points. Often, our perspective, even our own skin, holds us back, refusing to stretch and give so we can expand. Sometimes it takes being ripped in two for light to get at our dark and stunted places. Sometimes it takes being broken in two before the miracle happens that multiplies us.

Have you ever noticed that the best motivational speakers are the ones who've suffered from addiction, financial failure, or some other hardship? Each one will tell you it took hitting rock bottom for them to break their bad cycle and find a new way.

Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to [his] disciples to set before the people. (Mark 6:41)

Jesus knew this. That's why He broke the bread in Mark 6 before He multiplied it. Tearing it in two wasn't necessary. He could have multiplied it whole. But it's as if He were saying that when we try to be whole in and of ourselves, we become limited.

Sometimes it takes being broken in two before the miracle happens that multiplies us. #catholicmom

It's only by our exterior being torn open that our vulnerable places are exposed. Those are the places that matter. And when they are touched by Him, they're healed and become gifts. Those gifts then multiply, not to be kept to ourselves, but to be shared to feed the world.

broken loaf of bread