Food for the journey

The story is told about a wife who told her husband that she wanted to donate her old clothes to charity to somehow help the poor, the needy and the starving. The husband jokingly said: “The poor and the needy, yes, but the starving? None of them would fit in your clothes!” Last heard that the husband is still recuperating from a head injury.

Today is the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. We are reminded that as we need food for our bodies, we also need food for our souls. We all need spiritual food, otherwise, our souls will die of malnutrition and starvation.

In today’s Gospel (Lk. 9, 11b-17), Jesus ordered His disciples “Give them some food yourselves” before He performed the miracle of the loaves and the fish. God wants us to do our part. We must learn to operate and cooperate with God’s grace. Never God alone, nor me alone, but me and God, together, always, and forever.

How do blessings multiply? By sharing them to and with others. Because of the generosity of the owner of the five loaves and two fish, a multitude of about five thousand people was fed. May God give us the grace of sincere generosity and kindness.

If only we learned to share, no one will have so little, and no one will have too much. We still have much to learn about sharing and letting go. Greed is the single biggest obstacle to love, peace and unity. Careful. The evil one knows how to use greed to destroy our relationships and our very souls.

Remember how they catch monkeys in India? The monkey is trapped when it puts its hand into the little hole in the coconut shell, and would not let go of the food inside with its closed fist. If only it would open its fist and let go, then it is free.

By the way, there are devotees of the Eucharist and end up just that. Our love of the Eucharist must bear fruit in our daily lives. And so it is that there are Mass goers who continue to be proud, arrogant, irritable, selfish, and hurt other people in thought, words and deeds. May we all become living Eucharists.

Inviting you to join a 13-day pilgrimage to California’s Mission Churches, and to the Shrine of our Lady of Guadalupe, from Oct. 22 to Nov. 2. The first part (Oct. 23-27), will be the pilgrimage to the Mission Churches in San Francisco, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Sta. Barbara, Solvang, Ventura, San Gabriel, Los Angeles and San Diego. The second part (Oct. 28-Nov. 2), will be the pilgrimage to Mexico City, Tlaxcala, Ocotlán, and Puebla. For inquiries, please contact: Executive Resources/The Pilgrims’ Center (+632-5238581-84) or e-mail: [email protected]; website: www.pilgrimage.ph. Last year, I could not make it there because of cancer. Now, with cancer out of the way, I want to go there to thank our Blessed Mother. Through the years, I have always been comforted by her words to Juan Diego: “I am here. I’m your Mother. Do not fear. I am near.”

Bantay Matanda invites you to a lay forum on “Do’s and Don’ts of Caregiving” at Tuklong ni San Jose, Christ the King Seminary, E. Rodriguez Sr. Ave., Quezon City, on June 29 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. For inquiries, please call 9982548 or 0917-4167849.

Think about this: “The evil one loves to take what is beautiful and ruin it; God loves to take what is ruined and make it beautiful.”

A moment with the Lord:

Lord, thank You for being a constant presence and food as we journey on. Amen.

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