Only Christ Satisfies | Sunday Reflection | 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By: Rev. Mr. Joseph Jasinski
Seminarian
Archdiocese of Boston

A friendly PSA from your favorite weekly seminary newsletter:

Are you a glutton like me? Are you looking for an opportunity for painful, involuntary mortification?

Then, boy, do I have the opportunity for you: Route 1 northbound!

Take a leisurely drive up that beautifully scenic strip of pavement on an empty stomach and let the smells provide the purgation.

First, the aromas of cheeseburgers and fries from Five Guys invade your nostrils. Minutes later, flavor waves of thinly sliced roast beef from Kelly’s taunt you from the southbound side. You begin to whimper like a sad puppy. Sensing your weakness, Border Cafe offers the tantalizing perfume of tacos. You are utterly helpless, and your stomach begins to eat itself. The road does not relent. As a sort of knockout punch, whiffs from Polcari’s Italian eatery penetrate your nasal passages. If you feel a sudden SMASH!, I have some bad news: You have just hit the car in front of you as you imagined the chicken parm being delivered to your table.

Why do I loathe the feeling of emptiness?

Why do I so often stop at nothing to avoid sitting in that awful bodily sensation any longer than I have to (which, I can assure you, is one that rarely arrives at Saint John’s Seminary, thanks to our incredible kitchen staff)?

How much Jesus’ disciples and followers must have felt that emptiness as well, as, at the end of what we can only imagine was an insanely long day of travel, healing, and general stimulation [i.e., thousands of people (plus, ya know, one Savior of the World) couldn’t have been a flatline affair, right?], they realize their stomachs are growling and people still got a long homebound journey ahead.

At the end of the impromptu event, the disciples try to gently remind Jesus of the reality: “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”

And, in so many words, Jesus says the same thing He always says: Do not be afraid.

“There is no need (to leave)…”

The rest is history. He takes the two fish and five loaves, looks up to Heaven, says the blessing, gives it to His disciples, and they feast. He fills each stomach. Every single one of ’em. Twelve baskets of leftovers, too. Because He always fills our emptiness, in ways so far greater than we ever could ourselves.

So how do I learn to simply “exist in the empty” in all facets of life and trust that the Teacher will provide?

Did you avoid the fendah-bendah as you drove past Polcari’s? Good! You’re almost there!

Yes, I know you’re bawling your eyes out by now, and that your belly is making noises akin to a chainsaw chucked in a laundry machine. But you’ve just gotten off Route 1, sped a few miles down 114, and have arrived at the Northshore Mall.

“It’s a trap!” you scream, as you catch a glimpse of Legal Seafood.

But then you go inside the mall, descend the stairs to the basement level just beneath Fogo de Chão, and enter the quiet calm of the Carmelite Chapel. And there He is. Jesus in the monstrance. Looking right at you.

And you are empty no more.