Spiritual Food – Reflection on Matthew 14:13-21
I recognized this morning in prayer that I have been married for two-thirds of my life. God’s gift of a spouse did not strike me as profoundly until every day over a vacation week, I prayed about relationships. My wife and I had rented a small cabin at a conservation property on a pond. The first morning was our anniversary, and in prayer, I had become transfixed and grateful for my wife. Each day, my prayer concentrated on the types of relationships of people in my life. Years later, I am still learning to consistently reflect the spiritual food of Jesus’s love for my wife, other people I know, and strangers who have crossed my path. As the years have passed, I still feel like a beginner in understanding the how and when of love. Knowing Jesus has so much more to reveal, teach, let me receive, and give to others gives me great joy.
The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes by James Tissot (full-resolution painting).
More details are available on the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Ordinary Time Reflections
Matthew 14:13-21 – Scripture*
Feeding the Five Thousand
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on Matthew 14:13-21 Reflection – Spiritual Food.
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Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities experience your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite the world’s distractions.
Attributions
This site has written permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible for the passage of Matthew 14.
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Primary Lectio Divina word or phrase: Spiritual Food
Page and discussion group on these Lectio Divina daily Gospel Readings.
Discussion group on St. John of the Cross.