If you ever feel that you can’t relate to people from way back in time, all you need to do is listen to the Book of Exodus this week. On Monday, we had the Israelites second-guessing God and Moses, looking back on Egypt under Pharoah as better than their journey through the desert.
Today, the Israelites are complaining about a lack of food, fondly remembering having their fill of meat and bread. To be honest, if I don’t get to eat what I’m used to and get enough of it, I start getting cranky as well. Maybe some of you can relate.
But God hears their cry and tends to their needs. He is a God who cares and will use our human needs to teach us about ourselves and our relationship with God and each other. Did you notice that after God told Moses He would rain down bread from heaven, He then said that He would test the Israelites to see if they would follow His instructions or not?
At times, we wonder why our lives are not as fulfilling or joyful or peaceful as we’d hoped, and yet don’t always ask ourselves or make the connection to whether we are following God’s instructions for life. We can be just like the Israelites, full of complaints and questions for God, but unable to find a resolution or answers because our ways, or the world’s ways, are drowning out God’s ways.
Yesterday, I was reading a commentary that explained that the word “manna” doesn’t stand for the word bread, but instead was used to convey a question. When the Israelites saw those fine flakes on the ground, they asked, “What is this?” They needed Moses to tell them that it was bread from heaven. Moses could answer because He was a man of God who both talked to and listened to God.
One lesson we can take from today’s reading is that following God’s instructions leads us to the life and solutions in it that we need. I’m sure that God is trying to help each one of us and each member of our families with something today.
We don’t always understand at first the ways that He is helping us. It could be a person’s tough love advice; a challenging opportunity; a door that closes but for the better in the long run; and so many other means by which God both provides for and teaches us.
It can be tempting to look back at our lives before we grew in our faith with rose-colored glasses. Perhaps focusing on some instant gratification moments and missing them. However, just like with the Israelites, growing closer to God and to one another is the life that leads to lasting meaning, love, and peace.
God uses our struggles and longings to teach us about ourselves and His love for us so that we will come to hunger for Him more than any worldly pleasure.
May God bless you and your families this holy day and may we both listen to and hunger for God.
Sts. Joachim and Anne, pray for us!
Reverend David S. Marcham is the Vice Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Patrick Peyton, and Director of the Father Peyton Guild, whose members pray for Father Peyton’s beatification and spread his message of the importance of Family Prayer. Prior to becoming a seminarian, Father David was a physical therapist and clinical instructor, serving hospital inpatients and outpatients throughout the greater Boston area for eleven years. In 1998 he heard the call to priesthood and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005. Father David grew up in Quincy, MA, and has fond memories of playing soccer, tennis and running track. You’re never without a friend when Father David is around, as he welcomes everyone into his circle with a smile on his face!
