I returned this week from spending time with my extended family. It was a wonderful visit, and I greatly enjoyed being together with them. Yet as I reflected on our time together, I found my soul troubled. As I thought about my family, I realized that less than half of my closest relatives are still practicing the Catholic faith into which we were all baptized. Sadly, I suspect this experience is familiar to many of us. The oft-cited statistic is that for every one who comes into the Church, eight leave. However, seeing this reality play out in my family saddens me. My family has never been especially zealous in living the faith. Even so, seeing those who once served as catechists or attended Mass faithfully drift into complacency, and even apathy, makes my soul groan for the joy they are missing, a joy found only in relationship with God.
By society's standards, my relatives are successful, and yet they are missing our deepest human need—communion with God through Jesus Christ. As I reflected on the readings for this week, I saw how clearly they connect to my family. Again and again, we hear the Scriptures proclaiming that God feeds us; He gives us what we need. How many in our lives have forgotten this good news of God's desire to be in relationship with us and satisfy the deepest hunger of our hearts? How often do we who partake in the Sacrament of the Eucharist take this for granted?
Only through reliance on God are we able to truly be satisfied. Isaiah invites us to "come, receive grain and eat." The Psalm reminds us that "The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs." St. Paul assures us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. In the Gospel, Jesus feeds the multitude with only a few loaves and fishes. Even before the Gospel, we proclaim: "One does not live on bread alone..."
God provides our sustenance. More than that, He gives us life itself.
People’s lives are transformed when they encounter God. We see this in the Scriptures, we see it in the lives of the saints, and we see it at OLP. This is what I want to share with my relatives, and this is what we should share with all those in our lives. Two Scripture quotes come to mind:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
“Yet [God] is not from each one of us, for ‘in him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:28).
Let us pray that we may be empowered by the Holy Spirit to accompany those we love to an encounter with the Lord who feeds us and answers all our needs.
James Pike
Director of Parish Life
