Num. 11:4b-15 | Ps. 81:12-17 | Mt. 14:13-21

Today the Gospel takes us back to what Jesus desires for all of us.  Jesus came to bring life to each of us, and that life is to be whole in all ways.  When Jesus meets the people at the shore, despite His exhaustion, He puts aside all in order to minister to the needs of the people.  He sees their illnesses, their need for spirituality, their need for human food and He ministers to them in each of these areas.

The first reading shows us a people who have forgotten all that God has done for them, who grew tired of the food provided - the same old, same old - and who give into their desires for new and fresh and, thus, complain.  Somehow these people have allowed themselves to become more focused on self than on God.

Stop to reflect on your life.  How do you fit into these scripture passages?  Do you live more like the people of the Exodus journey or more like Christ in seeing others’ needs and having compassion?  How might Christ be calling you to live?