“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” (John 6:9)

Can you imagine the apprehension that the boy must have felt, clutching some food, and suddenly being thrust in front of Jesus?  Andrew’s question makes sense, what good is this amount of food when it comes to feeding so many. But he is also thinking as man thinks, not as God thinks.

There was a reading that I heard at Mass one Sunday when I was in high school, and for whatever reason, it really stuck with me. The verse says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” I didn’t necessarily know what I liked about this verse, or why it struck a chord with me, but it’s a verse I still find myself reflecting on every so often. 

Prayer is the key to Christian life. It forms and informs our relationship with God the Father and thus our lives. Without a relationship with the Father, we “Have to go to Mass” rather than “We get to go to Mass and encounter God.” Without prayer, scripture is nothing more than literature, that may be of some passing interest, rather than being what it is: the divinely inspired Word of God.

For many of us, the only time we think about St. Joseph is around Christmas, when we put out the nativity scene or hear the narratives of the birth of Jesus. We know the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, was chosen by God to be His mother. However, Joseph was chosen as well ̶ chosen to be the earthly father of Jesus. While Joseph is not the biological father of Jesus, he accepted the responsibility of being the father of Jesus.