Christian Reflection and Prayer

"For Jesus, prayer was as necessary as breathing. If the
Son of God felt such a great need for contact with the
Father, how much more do we need?... Why do we need
to pray? Why do we need to tell Him what He already
knows?... We think the purpose of prayer is to give
information to God.

"No, the purpose of prayer is not to inform God about
our needs, but to conform us to His will. Prayer doesn't
change God. Prayer changes us. It changes are attitude
from complaint to praise. It enables us to participate in
God's eternal plan. It makes us aware of our total
inadequacy---in God's infinite sufficiency.

"The goal of faith is to bring us into direct, personal
fellowship with God. If we do not move deeper into our
fellowship with Him through prayer, we retreat from
fellowship with Him... You either pray your way to a
deeper relationship with God---or you lose heart and
ultimately give up on faith.

"That, as we shall see, is the first thing Jesus teaches
us about prayer."

(Ray G. Stedman, "Talking with My Father: Jesus Teaches on Prayer")

"They all ate as much as they wanted, and when the
scraps remaining were collected they filled twelve
baskets" (Luke 9:17).

Through the ages, the baking and breaking of bread
has been one of the most important activities known
to humankind. Nobody knows when bread was first
eaten, but archaeologists have discovered that the
Lake Dwellers of Switzerland had learned to make
bread as early as 10,000 years ago. They ground
wheat, barley or millet, mixed the flour with water,
rolled the dough into thin sheets and baked them on
hot stones. The ancient Egyptians are believed to be
the originators of modern bread loaves dating back
to 1500 B.C. And the Romans had a well-developed
bread business by 100 B.C. with more than 250
bakeries in the capital. Today, bread is of course a
 key component of the world's dining table providing
a low-cost, abundant food source, though of limited
nutritional value.

Recently, the makers of Wonder Bread -- that iconic
staple of American kitchens for nearly 100 years --
sold the much beloved loaf to a competing brand.
The fluffy white slices of goodness, which promised
to "build strong bodies twelve ways," provided
generations the perfect platform upon which to build
towering tributes to it's namesake (the 18th century
Earl of Sandwich) -- but offered little in terms of real,
nutritional value.

In today's Gospel Lesson, Jesus has been preaching
and healing all day and the hour is late. The Apostles
say to Him to "send the people away, so they can go
to the villages and farms around about to find lodging
and food; for we are in a lonely place here." But
Jesus has a better idea, which He puts in the form of
a special order to the Apostles. He says, "Give them
something to eat yourselves." The Apostles point out
that they "have only five loaves and two fish" -- hardly
enough to satisfy the hunger of over five thousand
people. Nevertheless, they soon discover that, as
usual, Jesus has another miracle left. Looking up to
heaven, Jesus takes the five loaves and the two fish
and He breaks them and gives the pieces to the
Apostles to distribute to the people. And every one
of those thousands gets enough to eat. "All ate, and
were satisfied," the Gospel tells us. (Lk. 9:12-14,17)

In today's lesson, and throughout the The Gospels,
we learn time and again, that God loves us so much
that He nourishes us -- not twelve ways -- but in every
way. In terms of genuine spiritual nutrition, through
His Loving Presence, He nourishes us at the deepest
center of our being.

(from the staff and editors of Sunday Sermons Online)

Scripture:
"You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion... Abundant
in mercy and truth. (Psalm 86:15)

Reflections:

Did you know that the word, "compassion", comes from
two Latin words meaning "to suffer with".
Unfortunately suffering is common in our lives. We are
touched every day by pictures and images of people
destroyed by war, starvation, and all kinds of abuses. I
believe that people suffer other ways: loneliness, fear,
rejection, disability, grief, poverty, discrimination, addiction,
or a multitude of other problems.

But what has always been amazing to me is that God has
compassion on us, He actually suffers with us. I am
convinced that God knows what we are going through, as He
knew what the Israelites were going through in Egypt. He
cared for the Israelites and He cares for us. God
demonstrated the greatest act of compassion in human
history. He gave us His Son on the Cross, for there Christ
suffered for us. He endured sins penalty so we would not
have to endure it ourselves.

But this is not the end of the story, for God calls us to
have compassion on others, for His sake--to suffer with them,
and to show them the one suffered for them, Jesus Christ. I
really need to repeat that because there are so many people
that don't seem to understand, they call themselves Christians,
and don't realize that God calls them, all of us. to have
compassion on others, to suffer with them, and to let them
know that Jesus Christ suffered for them. Are you listening,
please are you listening, God Calls Us To Have Compassion!
If you are a Christian and you claim you believe this, THEN DO IT!