Article for July 31

Is 55:1-3                        Rom 8: 35, 37-39                        Mt 14:13-21

The other day when I was in a doctor’s waiting room I picked up a magazine dedicated to retirement.  The magazine was filled with pictures of water, golf courses and athletic looking people with a touch of gray hair. All of the people seemed to be holding up glasses and smiling. It was at that moment that I remembered the words of Isaiah in a question he posed to the Israelites.  He asked them “Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?”  It seems to me that satisfaction in retirement is dictated by the same criteria as it is at all the other stages in life.  If we are not at peace with ourselves how can we know any deep feeling of satisfaction?  So, I decided to set up my own individual retirement plan.  I have based my plan on Sunday’s gospel of the loaves and the fishes.  While we are all familiar with the story some of the details often are overlooked. It is those often overlooked details that can help us to achieve satisfaction at any age.  Matthew tells us “When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist; he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself”.  After experiencing disappointment and sorrow Jesus turned to solitude and prayer.  I am sure there were many who mourned the death of John the Baptist and Jesus found consolation with them.  Yet he needed to sort things out with his Father.  Despite being surrounded by caring people, in sorrow and disappointment we still need to turn to our God in solitude.  If we don’t there is a chance we could become cold and cynical.  After Jesus’ encounter with his father he was confronted by a huge crowd.  They wanted to hear him preach and see him cure.  Didn’t they realize he was Jesus was still hurting?  Yet Matthew tells us that “his heart was moved with pity”.  Those who encounter God in their sorrow become more compassionate.  When his disciples presented him with the challenge of feeding the people Jesus said, “Give them some food yourselves”.  Part of my retirement plan will be learning to give up control.  I am sure Jesus could have produced a great meal, but it was better for his disciples that he let them meet the challenge.  Jesus blessed the work of others but he let them do the work.  Sometimes it is much harder to receive than to give.  Matthew also tells us that the people were satisfied with five loaves and two fish.  How could they be satisfied with so little?  The answer is the people didn’t need much.   I am not waiting until retirement to downsize.  How much stuff do we really need?  We frequent shops that sell stuff.  We buy stuff and take it home.  Then we need more square footage to house the stuff. Thoreau was right when he said “Our life is frittered away by detail, simplify, simplify” It is clear that the gospel writer mentions the fact that there were twelve baskets left over in order to show that Jesus could really do large scale miracles.  Yet what happened to the twelve baskets of food?  I am sure they were eaten.   Leftovers always taste better because they have had time for the flavor to penetrate.  Our leftovers are our memories.  They are both treasures and a source of nourishment.  They are reminders of God’s blessings to us and a help as we age. I’m not sure whether my individual retirement plan will include mountain biking at eighty but I am going to start immediately to make sure that I will be rocking with a great deal of satisfaction.