The Father Nourishes
by Fr. David M. Knight
February 20, 2024
Tuesday (Week I of Lent)
Lectionary No. 225
Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 34; Matthew 6:7-15
"Just as… the rain and snow come down…" Isaiah 55:10
God’s word is life-giving. “My word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” He sends it to “water the earth, making it fertile and fruitful.”
Jesus assures us, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” He also knows what is best for us. And supplies it—more reliably than any human father for his children. Where anything is lacking, it is because humans have deprived one another.
Most—and best—of all, God nourishes us with truth. Jesus rejected an expected but false messianic role when he refuted Satan: “It is written, ‘Humans do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).
“My Father gives you the true bread from heaven… I am the Bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry… will live forever… As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.”
Jesus is the Word made flesh, the “living bread that came down from heaven” to give his “flesh for the life of the world.”
The Father promised: “My Word shall… do my will, achieving the end for which I sent him.” That end is the life of the world. Blessed be God forever.
ACTION: Read God’s words. Thank the Father for them.
PRAYER: “Give us this day the Bread of heaven.”
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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