Daily Gospel Reflection

The Key to Fulfilment

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelling. Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6, verses 34 through 44. "As He landed, He saw a great throng. And He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, His disciples came to Him and said, 'This is a lonely place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the country and villages roundabout and buy themselves something to eat.' But He answered them, 'You give them something to eat.' And they said to Him, 'Shall we go and buy 200 denari worth of bread and give it to them to eat?' And He said to them, 'How many lows have you? Go and see.' And when they came, they said to Him, 'Five loaves and two fish.' And He commanded them all to sit down by companies upon the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set them before the people. And He divided the two fish among them the same. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces of fish and bread. And those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men." What jumps out at you today? Two things jump out at me, sort of related. So when the boat lands, Jesus sees these people, masses of people. And He has great compassion for them because they seem to Him like sheep without a shepherd. That's the first thing.

And the second thing is after He fed them, it says, "They all ate and were satisfied." I think we live in a culture where there are a lot of people lost, confused, lonely, who seem like sheep without a shepherd. And I think we live in a culture where very, very few people are satisfied. And yet we have this. "They all ate and were satisfied." Satisfaction is an interesting thing. It's so easy to be dissatisfied. It's so easy to be dissatisfied in a world of seemingly infinite options and opportunities. And yet as children of God, we're called to a deep satisfaction. We're called to a deep fulfillment. And the key to that is not so much having everything, which is impossible. But the key to that is appreciating what we have. Be grateful for what we have. Because when we're grateful, there's a great satisfaction that wells up within us. At the same time, there is a role that dissatisfaction plays in our lives. And we should listen to our dissatisfaction sometimes because God speaks to us through our dissatisfaction. Not our selfish dissatisfaction. Not, "Hey, I've got 10 of this thing and I wish I had 12 of this thing." Well, that dissatisfaction is just sort of a selfish thing. But if we're dissatisfied in some area of our lives, God may be speaking to us through that dissatisfaction. And not to say, "Oh, you're entitled to more," but maybe saying, "Hey, you should be doing more," or, "You should be doing something different." Or, "You should be speaking up." Maybe the other person or the other people don't know that you're dissatisfied. Have a great day, and remember, be bold, be Catholic.