Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 334

He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also.
They ate and were satisfied.

 We can suppose the several thousand people who followed the Lord into the wilderness listened to their bellies, felt full, and believed they had eaten enough.

But sometimes satisfaction is a decision we make even before the belly has spoken. We consider how much we had to eat; or what chore we have yet to perform; or, perhaps, the stories we're told; and say, "Enough!" We need no more, and want no more. 

When the Lord God found Adam and Eve dressed in fig leaves, he knew enough. He didn't need to hear Adam blame Eve or Himself. When the crowd saw the Lord's generosity and each had received a portion from a disciple's hand; and when they saw there was more than enough left over; they were satisfied. 

So why is that consumers are never satisfied? Having bought enough, they want to buy more. Having accumulated more than enough, they want to pile up more. Having one tattoo, one beer, one doughnut, one suit: they want to buy more. Renting one storage unit, they need another one. When is the consumer satisfied? Are they ever? 

Saint Augustine explains it quite simply, "Our hearts are restless until we rest in thee." 

But consumers have never heard that expression, although they might own two or three posters, t-shirts, and coffee mugs which exuberantly proclaim that message. Satisfaction is a decision we make. It is more than a discovery. It happens when I say, "Thank you, Lord!"

When Eli realized the Lord was calling the boy Samuel in the middle of the night, and not himself, he had only to instruct the boy, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening."  Afterwards, Eli asked the boy what had happened and, 

"Samuel told him everything, and held nothing back. 

Eli answered, “It is the LORD. What is pleasing in the LORD’s sight, the LORD will do.” 

When the old man Simeon saw Mary and Joseph carry the Infant into the temple, he took the child in his arms and said, 

Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in sight of all the peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel. 

Concerning hardship and opposition, Jesus told his disciples: "No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master." 

And finally, Job tells us how to be satisfied: 

"We accept good things from the Lord; and should we not accept evil? The Lord gives; the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."