“Gather up the fragments that remain.” Broken things can be mighty precious. Broken hearts need to be mended; broken bones need to be set; broken promises call for repentance. We live in a broken world which lives in fear of a simple virus that can break the bank; break the churches; break free speech and free assembly. How can a “fragmented” people come to realize that they are on the brink of being duped into slavery. Let us turn to the holy gospel and ask a few questions of God.
Dear Father, why did you send Your only-begotten Son into this broken world? My Son gathered the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, the leprous that He might heal them and make the whole in soul and in body. He did not come to control or to establish a kingdom of fear but He came to call us to a kingdom of freedom and love. So the people flocked to Him and would not leave his side. Their hunger was in the soul primarily and secondarily in the flesh. Jesus’ Word healed the hunger of the soul and now He would feed the body as well.
Why did Jesus ask his apostles to feed the 5000 men not counting the women and children? The apostle Philip knew the cost of the banquet and blurted out how can we feed them with 200 denarii. It is a human impossibility. Then Andrew came forward with a little boy (symbol of the Jewish nation) who had five barley loaves and two fish but what is that among so many. Jesus tells the apostles to make the men sit down. Now He lifts up His Soul to His Father and gives thanks for this bread and the fish. Then He distributes, not the apostles. The five barley loaves remind us that the Jews had been given the 5 books of Moses which indicate the law. Barley is a bread with a hard crust to penetrate. The law could not release its nutrients without being broken by the life of grace in Jesus. The two fish indicate the prophets and the psalms which nourished the faith of the Israelite nation. Both are broken in order to nourish.
In each legitimate Holy Mass the bread is broken and the grapes are crushed in order to both feed and heal our souls and bodies. Should we allow bishops to remove this divine food from us because we fear catching a bug? The faithful must rise up and call on the priests to be priests of the most High God. We must have the holy Eucharist which is more important than the sun shining. Now we will discover where the truth lies and who are truly Catholic.
After the feeding of the 5000 the apostles are told to gather the fragments lest anything be lost. We all have fragmented lives that need the teaching of the apostles to heal us and lead us to the home prepared by the Word Made Flesh. All fragments become whole when touched by the Son of God. Sickness or health does not matter but the love of God will sanctify any fragment and make it beneficial for us.
Does this miracle of the loaves and fish call for a response from the soul? The response that is needed is to place all our trust in the One Who loves us beyond this world. In sickness, in trials, in temptations we yield to this love which is providently preparing us for the eternal life in which we repeatedly cry out “In His Will is our peace”. Does He will us to endure a virus? Fine, then let me endure it but do not take away my freedom to worship Him. Does He ask me to “lay down my life” through this corona (crown) virus? Amazingly He will take up my life in a moment of transfiguration and Crown me with eternal glory.
As St. Paul reminds us neither pain, nor sickness, nor conflict…nothing can separate me from the love of Christ, my Lord. Don’t be fooled my brothers and sisters, this manipulation of this virus is that a tinsel crown of power might manifest itself in order to see who will give up their freedom for socialism to take care of us. All positions of leadership have Satan as their guiding light and he must be exposed and rejected. Prepare yourself in prayer and devotion to our Lady. This is the pattern that grants us divine protection. Pray the rosary more and more if you cannot find the holy mass. Complain to your priests, write to the phony bishops, look for the true mass and the true priests who will not put your freedom of spirit in jeopardy. May Mary, the Help of Christians, guide us all to the family of God.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt
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