3 Aug 2015
We are the Israelites.
We are the crowds of hungry people.
And we look to other people and to other things to satisfy our needs. But with that, there’s always the temptation
not to rely on God; not to go to the source
of all blessings.
The Israelites cried out to Moses. The hungry crowds cried out to the
disciples. But they didn’t cry out to
God. Perhaps they tried to idolize Moses
and the disciples, in a way. And, in
that, they set their sights too low. And
we do that, too.
We have pop culture icons who’ve let us down, and we get
discouraged. In the latest news, there’s
Bill Cosby. I don’t think my generation
ever idolized him, but still, we looked up to him in some way, I suppose. And, in some ways, he let us down by not
being the upright and clean guy we expected him to be. He made some mistakes in the past and, for
some people, a source of inspiration was taken away.
When I think of people who leave the Catholic Church because
of another person, I have to wonder what their faith was in. Even today, I can hear people say: “I’m in
the Church of Francis”—meaning Pope Francis.
Or, “I’m belong to the Church of Benedict”—meaning Pope Benedict. And I wonder to myself: I hope your ultimate
faith isn’t in whoever happens to be pope.
Our faith is in God and in God alone. God puts mentors and examples into our lives
to lead us to him. But those other
people are just that—other people; they’re not God.
Now, we are the Israelites.
We are the crowds of hungry people.
And we look to other people and to other things to satisfy our
needs. But it isn’t Moses and the
disciples who fed the people. And it isn’t
other people or other things that—ultimately—feed us. God alone does that. Often times he does it through others. But it’s God
who feeds us.
And so, as we hunger in our spirit, in our emotions, even in
our physical needs, may we cry out to God. May we “sing with joy to God our help.”
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