"Take Me!"

Once a skinny hungry-looking beggar

timidly approached a plump and  elegantly-dressed matron,

“Madam,” he said, “I haven’t eaten in four days.”

“Wow!   How did you do it,”  the matron exclaimed in admiration, “I wish I had your determination!”

It seems the madam totally  failed to understand the situation of the poor hungry man.  It is unbelievable that she considers his  deprivation  as a  deliberate choice. The woman apparently fails to  look beyond herself to  see the legitimate concern of the beggar.

In  today’s Gospel  we have an  opposite picture. Jesus knows exactly  what the crowd need,  even though they seem a bit confused about it themselves. Jesus not only sees and understands their hunger. He provides an inexhaustible means of satisfying that need

We must keep in mind that  situation of need can be opportunities to show our  trust in God  and to  deepen our faith. There is much in our readings today that speaks of  ‘emptiness’ and ‘fullness’.

The  first reading  suggests that a  deliberate choice of emptiness can foster a  healthy sense of reliance  on the Lord.  The Israelites are commanded by God to  take with them  only a day’s portion  of manna. Were they to hoard this provision, they might tend to  develop a false sense of independence.

In the  Gospel reading  of a  few Sundays ago, Jesus gave a similar command to the disciples.  They were to  take nothing with them  on their missionary journey – no food, no traveling bag, no money – so  they would be compelled to trust in the Lord’s providence to sustain them.

Without the Lord, we feel  certain emptiness.  Do you at times feel  that you have everything that’s important in your life –    a happy family, a good job, and a good income – but you still feel something’s missing?

If our answer to these questions is  yes, then  today’s Scripture readings could hold an important message for us.  For they remind us of something that we often forget.   It’s this:

There are  two kinds of hunger in the world.  First,  there’s a  physical hunger,which only  food  can satisfy.  Second,  there’s a  spiritual hunger, which  no food in the world can satisfy.

In other words, we can be  rich  and  successful and  still feel an incredible hunger inside us.  One example is the story of  Tom Phillips,  who at the  age 40 was the  president of the largest company  in the state of  Massachusetts.  He had a  Mercedes, a  beautiful home,  and a  lovely family.  But  Tom Phillips  was  not happy.  In fact, he was downright unhappy.  Something was missing in his life, but he didn’t know what it was.

Then one night, during  a business trip to New York,  something happened to him.  Tom Phillips  had a  religious experience  that changed him forever.  Speaking of that experience, he said: “I saw what was missing [from my life].   It was Jesus Christ. I hadn’t ever… turned my life over to him.” 

And that night Tom did just that.  And that night Tom’s life changed in a way that brought him a happiness he never dreamed existed.Tom  had a friend named  Charles Colson.   He too was  a successful man. 

In his own words, he had “an office next to the president of the United states, a six-figure income, a yacht, a limousine, and a chauffer.” 

But he too was an  unhappy man.   In his own words, he had  a “gnawing hollowness” deep inside him.  Something was missing from his life, but he didn’t know what it was.

Then one  August night in 1973,  Tom Phillips  told  Charles Colson about his conversion. And the more  Colson  listened, the more he became convinced that Tom Phillips had just put his finger on what was causing the “gnawing hollowness” deep inside him.  He too was hungering for something.  And now, for the first time in his life he had an insight into what it was.  Charles Colson  left the  Phillips  home that night knowing exactly what he must do.

He hadn’t driven 100 yards from the house when he pulled up alongside the road and began to cry so loudly that he was afraid the  Phillips  family might hear him.   Describing what happened next,  Colson  said, “I prayed my first real prayer.”   It  went like this:  “God, I don’t know how to find you, but I’m going to try! I’m not much the way I am now, but somehow I want to give myself to you.” He then added: “I didn’t know how to say more, so I repeated over and over the words:  ‘Take me.’”

Colson  began to crisscross the country preaching the Gospel wherever he could, especially in prisons and on college campuses.

From the  Israelites,  through those  who sought out Jesus  at the lakeside, to  this community of believers today, people have come before God in their need – wounded, broken and vulnerable. 

We learn again today a familiar lesson: that those who believe and trust in the Lord will have their longing turned into joy, their emptiness gently filled by a God who knows exactly what they need.

Saints  are men and women  who also have dreams  and  fears,  talents  and  blind-spots, good days and days when they may not feel like talking to God. 

They are people  who finally concluded that God’s grace is sufficient. Their lives still had scary moments, but they are  grounded in the virtues of faith, hope, and love.   

The only saints who had it easy are statues. Some of God’s blessings  come in disguise.  Because we tend to  think that we know what is best for us, we might  not readily recognize the Lord’s intervention. 

Who would suspect that the  cannon ball  that shattered the leg of Ignatiuswould be the  occasion of his conversion, which in turn would lead him to the  founding of the Society of Jesus at the  service of the Church?

The people in today’s Gospel  ask for the bread that gives life to the world. Jesus offers it  in the Eucharist.  Our  hunger for Jesus should grow as we grow.  A  girl making her First Communion cannot hunger for Jesus quite the way her  faith-filled middle age mother  can.  A  young man cannot hunger for Jesus quite the way  his prayerful grandfather  can.  Jesus expects  the best that we can offer at our present stage of life.

God is  feeding all of us here  today although we come  with different feelings and life experiences.  God helps us  not to be afraid of drawing close to Him and to one another, always  sharing the divine life.

In the Eucharist, Jesus offers himself  as our  help  and  guide.  It is Jesus himself we receive. Do we recognize him in the living Bread who gives life? Do we receive him with faith and reverence?

The  Eucharist provides the strength we need  to put our faith into practice – even if we feel we have achieved very ordinary results. We may want to make our own the  prayer of Charles Colson at the moment of his conversion:

“God, I don’t know how to find you. But I’m going to try! I’m not much the way I am now, But somehow I want to give myself to you Take me! Take me!” Amen.