|
Another Faith Sharing Testimony by Trudy Burenheide
Can an hour once a month through a simple Zoom call with others also seeking Jesus, really have influence in our families and in our culture? Can it really help to transform our lives in a way that will fill us with the love of Christ? I fully believe that spending time with these good women can! We need each other.
Before Mass this morning (July 28) I opened up the missal and reflected on the Gospel, from John 6: 1-15. Surprisingly, to me, there was one word that captured my attention. In these lines the word that caused pause for me was used twice. “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted. So, they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat."
In that word, fragments, I could see how Jesus takes our fragments, those pieces of our lives that are so intimately devoted to Him, those other parts of us that want to be, and those fragments that are broken and confused and insecure. The message I heard in my heart was that Jesus can use any or all of those fragments for the greater glory of his Kingdom. That he can take my fragments and use them to share his love and mercy with the people I encounter.
This is what I saw happening on the July 21 Sunday night Zoom book study of Foundations For Discipleship. Many of us talked about pieces, sufferings, and events in our lives that had drawn us closer to God. During that hour together the fragments that were shared were united into a greater good. A greater good that Judy and I have spoken of since then and tried to put into words, but can’t adequately share with you what happened. We know we were more fully united as one in the Body of Christ. To me, that’s why I give one hour on one Sunday night a month. It’s for the greater glory of God that we, as a body united together in his Spirit, can go out and be more willing witnesses to the Gospel.
In that breaking of the loaves, with the fragments left over the people said: “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” May our families, friends, and casual encounters with others recognize the Prophet in us by the goodness of our hearts. Please join us in August, let these women who seek Christ touch your hearts!
| 
