Daily Gospel Reflection for July 28, 2024

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: John 6:1-15

As mothers, we can know a bit about stretching things in a pinch. Whether getting creative with the lunch sides that we send to school, throwing together a costume or two for a holiday, or making that project happen last-minute when our teenager “remembers” at the eleventh hour, we embrace the art of last-minute orchestration. It is not all that difficult to put ourselves in the scene of feeding a hungry crowd on short notice.

Throughout a typical day, how often are you asked to give? From “watch me” to “what’s for dinner” to “Mom, I need to talk,” we are constantly pulled through a never-ending cycle of tasks, challenges, and conversations that range from mindless to emotionally draining. Each one takes us in a new direction and invites us to sacrifice for the other in small and great ways.

If Jesus places the crowds in front of you, are you prepared to feed them? I don’t mean physically find the correct number of loaves and loaves, but spiritually, is your heart ready to give without cost? It does not matter whether there were 300; 5,000; or one million present. There was not a single number that would have been too great for Jesus to feed this crowd. How do we sustain ourselves in the feeding ministry of motherhood? We can choose to be the disciples, overwhelmed by what lies in front of us: “What good [am I] for so many?” Or, we can seek to imitate Christ, who commands to “have the people recline.”

When we encounter someone who asks to be fed, let us focus on the person more than the details, trusting that the Lord will sustain us with what we need to feed them.

Ponder:

Where do you find sustenance in your feeding ministry of motherhood?

Pray:

Lord, we do not know whom you will place in our path on this day or what they will come seeking from us. Regardless of the cost, give us hearts that feed others by reflecting your light and wisdom.

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