Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the 3rd Week of Epiphany: Year 1
Morning, Psalm 50; Evening, Psalm 118;
Isaiah 49:13-23; Galatians 3:1-14; Mark 6:30-46:
“After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.” (Mark 6: 46)
Jesus has just fed the five thousand and sent his disciples off in a boat. It has been a hard day’s work and now he goes to the Father in prayer. This whole episode started with prayer as he gave thanks for the few loaves and fish before passing it out to the multitude.
This is what I call a miracle or “task” sandwich prayer. Jesus prays to start the activity and then closes it with prayer at the end. So often we pray and pray for God to do something for us. When God resolves the situation for us (as may be best for us) we take it and go. We are not making a pizza where something is just laid on top of a single piece of bread. We are making a sandwich where we put food on bread and then top it with another piece of bread.
With only the bottom piece of bread, God doesn’t hear from us again until the next crisis. But in this case in our Gospel reading for today, with the feeding of the multitude, Jesus was praying for the work he has just done, not for any new favors or life improvements or the next big thing, but for the welfare of others that they might be truly fed with the Spirit as well as the material food.
This too is a misunderstanding we sometimes make. When we receive unexpected opportunities like the chance to help somebody, we should do it in a prayer sandwich. Pray, asking for God’s help at the start. Experience the task, and then give God thanks for the opportunity just received. Prayer then, becomes the bread of the Spirit that encloses the miracle, or holy work, or task. This is a perfect task sandwich. Yum Yum!
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
Most Holy Lord God, help us to slow down in reverent patience as we go about our days. Receive our prayers, spoken or pondered, before and after, whatever our concerns are. We pray that your love for us may be made manifest between our prayers as they were with our Lord Jesus. Amen.
onewhoponders 