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Word To Life
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Sunday Scripture Readings, July 26, 2009
By Jean Denton
Catholic News Service
July 26, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B Readings:
2 Kings 4:42-44
Psalm 145: 10-11, 15-18
Ephesians 4:1-6
Gospel: John 6:1-15
My friend Dave, a microbiologist, was preparing for a lab experiment last week. He tried to explain his task to me in laymen's terms, and I think I understood, sort of.
Basically it was this: Certain microbes, if introduced into a certain environment, would alter it through the action of their normal life function.
Dave said he spent hours calculating how many microbes to use in this experiment. He decided to check his conclusion by trying to examine these microbes under a microscope, although he didn't expect to see much since their natural setting blurs the image. But he accidentally mis-set the microscope and was surprised to get a clear look. What he saw was that this microbial community was exponentially thicker than previously believed. His numbers were way off.
Dave was amused and gratified. "It just goes to show you that God has so much more for us than we can ever imagine!" he said.
A scientist of abiding faith, Dave knows the truth revealed in this weekend's Scriptures. Elisha's barley loaves provide for more people than seems possible. Jesus' miraculous multiplication of the five loaves and two fish feeds more than 5,000 men. In each case there was plenty left over too.
God provides for our need and has more besides -- more than we can imagine. Yes, it is hard to imagine how Jesus can make five loaves of bread satisfy 5,000 people. But knowing how isn't what's important for our faith. What's important is knowing that God can do it and God chooses to do it.
God doesn't gather from some supply. God creates -- infinitely. That is who God is.
God also is Love. So God gives to us -- infinitely.
God even shares with us his act of creating! Endless new music is created every day -- drawn from a bottomless well of ideas that also enter the minds of countless artists, writers, scientists, chefs, teachers ... for generations.
For our part, we are called to trust in what God places in our lives for the sake of his life and to receive and share his creation in the spirit of love through which he offers it.
QUESTIONS:
What has God provided in your life that has been "more than you could imagine" from him? How have you accepted and shared such gifts?
SCRIPTURE TO BE ILLUSTRATED:
"And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the Lord had said" (2 Kings 4:44).
END
Copyright © 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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