"So that nothing will be wasted"

Life is tough for many of us nowadays.

It is a good time to hear again of our Lord feeding the multitude in today’s Gospel (John 6:1-15).

It is not simply because our Lord is fulfilling serious practical needs of those who are following him.

It is also because there are other lessons to be learned in our Lord’s words and actions.

Here are just two.

Jesus said, “Have the people recline.”

No lines. No crowding. Our Lord simply has the people sit in the manner people of that time ate: reclining at dinner.

Sometimes we can be too anxious. Sometimes we can be too obsessed with organization and planning.

We need to be prudent and practical, but we also need to be prayerful and faithful.

Another lesson.

When they had had their fill,
he said to his disciples,
“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”

Sometimes we have in our lives momentous events and powerful lessons.

But God can also have much to teach us through small things in our lives.

Thus we need to pray always for the gift of continual discernment as we live our lives every day, “so that nothing will be wasted.”