Fish, Floating, and Fearful Foolishness

It's those Bread and Fish again. Those 5 lingering loaves and 2 pesky pescados (see what I did there? Little Spanish for ya ;)

This week at Daily Mass we've been hearing the Gospel of Mark 6 alongside the 1st readings from 1 John 4.

Mark 6 starts with Jesus instructing his apostles to take nothing for the journey, continues with Herod and the apostles not knowing what to do with Jesus, and then leads us to our current Gospels of contemplation.

Yesterday it was the feeding of the 5,000 which you may remember I began to reflect on this late summer/early fall (I had to re-check previous blog posts myself, so don't feel bad if you don't remember ;)

Pretty much I was just saying: Five loaves and 2 fish are all I got, Jesus. I'm running out of the big, dramatic epiphanies, the retreat highs, I've given alot up to you. This is all I gots left. My job, my friends, school. That's it.

And Jesus- as He does in the Gospel- says, 'Hey, great! That's ENOUGH!"

And I'm all like, "um, but it's not going to do anything, feed anyone, yadda yadda"

And of course then He's all like, "watch me".

He wants us to trust Him. Trust that He's given us all for this present moment and can do MUCH with it.

Okay. Moving on to today's Gospel which is where He walks on water. WHHAAAT??

I tried to see if I had mentioned all this before, but I couldn't find that post. So I may have, may not. Indulge me if I already have. Thanks. 'Cause here I go:

1.) i love Mark's account of this Walking on Water incident. Mark is a sassy fellow. Love him, all the time.

2.) Mark says Jesus goes off by Himself (He's always DOING that!) and then he sees the apostles off in the boat (they're On A Boat- heh) no doubt screwing up or arguing over something or another. So he walks towards them. Now Mark says that Jesus "was going to pass them by..." to which I SAY:

"Right, Jesus. You were just going to waltz on by with no one noticing? ON WATER. You didn't think they were going to FREAK OUT?!"

And this is where I think I am. I got the 5 loaves 2 fish thing. But then I'm not prepared for THIS act of trust. Jesus is doing all these crazy things that I don't understand.

And Jesus notices this. Though the Feeding of the Five Thousand and the Water incident (I love referring to this as such) are meant to INCREASE our TRUST in Jesus, we just freak out a little. Mark even says:

"They had not understood the incident of the loaves. On the contrary, their hearts were hardened."

Gosh darn it! Our humanness and original sin is contrary to the peace and divine love Jesus wants for us. Bah! We gotta get all freaky and try to figure out Jesus' ways and what not when He's trying to tell us something or another through trust.

So I'm praying after Mass today- Jesus- what comes next?! What's the next link in Mark 6?? There's no coincidence these stories are placed as they are.

Ah, but First! Another message from today's readings...

1 John 4..." There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. Because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love".

This, of course, is paired with Jesus in today's Gospel saying to the apostles when they are totally FREAKED OUT:

"Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid".

So ponder on all that too, if you will: "One who fears is not yet perfect in love".
Ah, yeah. I'm certainly not there!

So do you want to know what comes NEXT after all this craziness in Mark? I'll tell YOU!

A very short paragraph about the healing at Gennesaret. This is the case with the placing of these stories in Matthew too.

So I tried to my little Lectio Divina in my mind and place myself in this scene as one of the apostles. Jesus has just walked on water and fed 5,000 in front of me. He's told me to not be afraid. And so I'm guessing they are sucking it up, helping out, watching Him, bringing people to Him. They are going about this MISSION. I want Mission! (I know I've said this before!)Does this mean my mission is coming soon, Jesus??

Not only that, but I did a little Wikipedia research as usual to find...

Gennesaret means...are you ready??

"Garden of Riches" !!!!!

The Garden of Riches is coming, people, if we trust!!! I hope it's coming this weekend on retreat! And then there's the reality that it really will come in heaven...

Pray for us, we'll pray for you! Share the love!
Peace,
Julia