(not so) Satisfied

Last weekend's gospel came from Saint Luke, and it has been on my mind all week long.

It's a familiar reading. Even as a Protestant, I heard it over and over. I dare say even the non-religious type knows the story of the loaves and fishes. Jesus feeds the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish.

But last Sunday, as Father read the Gospel according to Saint Luke, one particular phrase jumped out at me.

"They all ate and were satisfied."

"They all ate and were satisfied."

"They all ate and were satisfied."

I mean, think about it. Luke could have just left it with the fact that Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, right? That's the miracle. He fed all those people. And I get that one way to look at the above statement is that there was enough there for everyone to eat their fill. I get it. In fact, that is probably the point that Luke was trying to make.

But it still made me think about that word, "satisfied," and whether or not we are ever satisfied. Sometimes I think if we had been present at the miracle of multiplication, we might have asked Jesus what was for dessert.

I think no matter what we "eat," we are never satisfied. At its heart, the word is gluttony, or even greed. To delve deeper, it is theft, because we are robbing those less fortunate than us. We keep what we could give to others for ourselves.

Wow, that stings, doesn't it?

One thing I have found about the examination of conscience is that it is a painful, painful process, and it can and should be triggered by our constant prayer and study of God's holy Word. The simplest phrase has triggered a week's worth of thought in my mind, and it is my hope that it now can make you think about your level of satisfaction.

It's made me think about mine, and I think I should have been satisfied a long time ago.

How about you?