JESUS FEEDS THE FIVE THOUSAND

To anyone reading this blog I have considered many times over the past several months to put on the blog some of the inspirations the Holy Spirit has given me. Unfortunately I have not done so.   Myself and my family have been living in the south for just over 2 years. We do love life in the south. There is an easiness to living in a place were most people are not afraid to express their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. "Bless your heart honey," OR "Thank you Jesus," are very refreshing applications to daily life in the south.

Not everyone but people of all ages embrace the love of Jesus and try to pass it on.   I was concerned at first that we would be in the minority as it relates to Catholics. There are so many Baptist and Evangelical ministries. The churches actually line the streets. Most of the denominations are small but so many.   There are two Catholic churches fairly close to us and two more less that an hour away. Churches relatively new built with the future in mind. Massively huge with schools and big open areas for church projects and over flow Holy Day Masses.   At first I was a bit discouraged missing the older Gothic style churches and Cathedrals of the North.  God is obviously guiding and directing the architectural designers.

On Christmas eve we attended Mass at St. Brendan the Navigator church. Mass at 4 pm. We knew it would be crowded but when we arrived at 3:19 pm we were not prepared for the sea of automobiles already covering the parking lot. Very few spaces left and seating only in the crying room and the open space filled with chairs and two big screen TV's for the overflow which was also filled.   People of all ages children, grandchildren grand parents wheelchairs, canes and oxygen tanks. It was a marvelously joy filled occasion.

As I watched the priest, deacon and Eucharistic ministers move into the crowd to distribute The Body of Christ to the needy people I was brought back to the time when Jesus and His disciples were feeding the five thousand.  What was it like for Jesus to bring His message to thousands of people with out a microphone, cameras, TV screen for those in the way back? The thought of it all and the experience gave me such hope.   I lost my mother in her 90's almost two years ago. My best memories of her in her later years was attending Mass and going to dinner afterwards.  Well even my husband noticed that the lady next to me looked very much like my mother as she leaned on her cane, stretching to see the priest turn bread and water into the Body and Blood of Christ.

This woman got to talking to me about her daughter who takes her to Mass and wants her to live with her. 94 and taking care of herself thank you very much. Only God could plan such a happy reminder of the woman who gave birth to me.  On the other side a family who's oldest  is attending Catholic Kindergarten. She knows every word and song of the Mass. Again such hope.   And now I consider the God of Hope, how does He do such things, putting me exactly in a seat were hope is on either side of me. God is perfect and the Holy Spirit is on the move. Even the blind can see Him if they want to.   The Mass was so perfectly executed that we were out in front of the church at 5:05 PM. The priest was welcoming and to the point, very well organized.   When people say to me, "the church is finished, " or the world is coming to an end I say, "look more closely, think more deeply, who is God really? "  "So much higher are His Ways above our ways and His Thoughts above our thoughts."  ~Isaiah 55: 8-9. 

May 2020 be a year of perfect vision as we look to the God of the Universe to make crooked roads straight.  
~Margaret of Souls for Jesus, OCDS