Early this morning, I found myself awake…a victim of insomnia at 2am. I laid awake for almost an hour before deciding to get up and pray. I started with Blessed is She, my favorite devotional website. I read through the readings of the day and then the reflection posted by Joan Geiger. The question she posed was based on today’s Gospel reading of the ten virgins – five who were wise and five who were foolish (Mark 25:1-13). The question Joan posed was this: what fills your spiritual lamp?  And that got me to thinking.

One of the things that fills my spiritual lamp is providing service to others – using my time, talent and treasure – to help those in need. This past Wednesday, my children and I got the chance to help with an ecumenical service project through cityServe and work at Jefferson Elementary School in Green Bay helping a special education teacher named Kathy set up her classroom. We spent two hours doing menial tasks for her: testing markers, sharpening pencils, building a cart, assembling binders, etc. And while none of the tasks were difficult, ultimately they made her life easier and allowed her to get her classroom ready on time for open house that night.  It was a great feeling to know that we had helped Kathy and her students in some small way.

And through my ministry at St. Agnes, I try to provide many opportunities for students and their families to serve others both inside the parish and outside in the community. To give them a chance to fill their spiritual lamps, as it were. Our website has a flyer of options that can be downloaded under the ‘Youth Ministry’ tab.

But maybe service doesn’t fill your spiritual lamp.  Maybe it’s spending time in prayer, going to Mass or Adoration, participating in the Sacraments, listening to Christian music or podcast, or reading a book that brings life to your soul…whatever it is, take some time today to figure out what fills your spiritual lamp because our Lord tells us “therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour" when He is coming.

Peace and blessings,
Deborah Gretzinger (No R.E.-Gretz)

Our gospel reading for this weekend begins with unbelief. “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” (John 6:52) And last weekend, we found that they struggled with belief as well when they murmured among themselves (John 6:41). As we have heard the last several weeks, Jesus teaches the crowds and His disciples that He would feed them not with perishable bread, but with the bread of life that would enable them to live forever. But in the Gospel we hear their response—or at least the response of most of them: “No way! This saying is too hard.”

Quite naturally, we don’t want to admit that this might be too hard.  On the surface, it looks pretty easy. We want to accept Jesus’ word and receive the bread of life. We want to believe in the Eucharist. We want to believe in its awesome, saving power to transform us. We want to believe that Jesus is really present in it. We want to believe that it is the bread of life.

But for many of us (and those around us), we are like the people in the Gospels….we murmur, we mutter under our breath, we quarrel among ourselves that this saying is too hard…because our culture, our society, our friends, our family tell us to take the easy route….to think it’s a symbol or a sign of Christ’s presence.  But the truth is…we have been blessed with the Bread of Life…the real presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist…not a sign or a symbol…..so we are sent forth to make Christ’s presence real to others. As Christ the Bread of Life has given us Himself to make us His own…to be food for the journey of our lives, we are sent forth to feed the hungry people we meet on our respective journeys. At the end of every Mass, the priest or deacon tells us, “The Mass is ended. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” So the Eucharist never simply ends, like a play, movie or sporting event ends. No, instead we are all sent forth….sent forth with a mission…to be the bread of life for others.

So this week, take a moment to stop the murmuring, muttering and quarrelling that this saying is too hard and ask Christ instead for a deeper appreciation of the Eucharist. Pray for the grace to make His presence real to others. Share the knowledge that the Eucharist is a gift, and in this life, there is no greater gift that we could ever receive.

Peace,
Deborah (No R.E.-Gretz) Gretzinger