Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene
I forgot to take my dinner to work last night. The cafeteria was closed so I just kept working. I was able to put aside the hunger for most of the evening. By the time I got in the car for the way home it was midnight. I was ravenous. As I rushed home all I could think about was my hunger, it consumed my thoughts. It was in praying with today’s readings the Lord once again taught me about real hunger. My grumbling was silly. How far must I look? I pray with patients every day who are fasting for a test or who haven’t eaten in days and long for a scrap of food, but have to wait until they are able to safely swallow.
Of course the Lord hears our grumbling and like the manna from heaven provides our daily bread. Still like the children of Israel, the Lord provides, however it is a matter of our believing it. In the desert the Lord tested the people to only gather “their daily portion.” In our prayer we pray “give us our daily bread” and the Lord does. Sometimes we do not trust that the Lord will provide, so we grumble. We grumble about many things and the Lord hears us and answers in a way we do not expect our perhaps do not understand.
Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty. It made no sense. She came to tomb and upon not find him grumbles three times where have they taken the Lord. The answer to her prayer was right in front of her yet she did not understand. In presenting himself, Jesus gave Mary and us something to trust in a new bread from heaven, the risen Lord.
Our daily bread is provided in so many ways if we trust in the Lord. We live in a country where most have food, shelter, clothing, clean water, and both education and employment opportunities. The Lord has provided so much to us for which we need to be grateful. Consider the Lord’s promise of daily bread and what that means for our lives. How can we be more trusting and grateful for our blessings from heaven.
“Lord, today we present to You our grumblings and our gratitude’s. Please take away that which burdens our hearts and reveal to us a glimpse of Your presence in the people around us. Then out of gratitude for bread from heaven help us, like Mary Magdalene, give our lives to announce, we have seen the Lord. Amen.”
-Michael Montgomery