“Give them something to eat.”

“Give them something to eat.”

On the mountain of Your Holiness,
You commanded,
“You give them something to eat.”

What have I that would feed,
And satisfy so many?
You give to me,
In steady supply.

You are my All.
In You, I believe,
It is You, I adore,
And from You, I draw my hope,
And loving trust.

You have fulfilled Your promise,
Feeding me with the finest wheat, the Eucharistic Wheat,
Made Bread, most holy,
Your body and Your Blood.

“Give them something to eat.”

What have I that would feed,
And satisfy so many?
I will give them my Treasure,
My Only Good.

As life flowing from this temple
Flow from me,
To water,
And sup with humanity all about me.

© 2017 Joann Nelander

Holy Thursday – about today

“So when he had washed their feet [and] put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, ‘Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do,’” (John 13: 12-15).

Today’s Gospel reading models what Christian love looks like. Jesus bends down and washes the feet of his disciples, commanding them to do the same for others. In the washing of feet and the sacrament of the Eucharist, we see “the same mystery of a divine expression of love.” Both show Jesus humbly lowering down, meeting us where we are, and offering an expression of love. 

Pope Francis said: “There is much that we can do to benefit the poor, the needy and those who suffer, and to favor justice, promote reconciliation and build peace. But before all else we need to keep alive in our world the thirst for the absolute, and to counter the dominance of a one-dimensional vision of the human person, a vision which reduces human beings to what they produce and to what they consume: this is one of the most insidious temptations of our time.”[1][2][3][4]

Written by Sarah Ciotti