The Bible is full of accounts of miracles and today’s Gospel is no exception, recounting the second time that Jesus multiplies loaves and fishes. I’ve been thinking a lot about miracles lately as it recently marked one year since my depression was spontaneously cured in adoration on the 2024 St. Pete young adult retreat. I had given up on receiving healing in a variety of areas, not because I doubted He could do it, but rather that He would do it.

As I think about the people in today’s Gospel, I wonder if they had heard about the first instance of this miracle from friends and family members and hoped deep down that they would one day experience this miracle as well.

We often hear accounts of modern miracles and desperately want that for our own situations. Thinking back to the blessings I have experienced in my own life, they were often at unexpected times or when I felt I had nothing to offer but a desperate cry I had uttered for the millionth time.

God bestows abundant blessings upon us even if it isn’t in the ways we want or expect. Maybe He doesn’t give us a miracle but provides something better than what we seek, or maybe He grants the miracle later than we want.

Jesus used the people’s humble loaves and fish. Trust that God can and will bring about goodness from what you have.

How can I better trust Jesus to use what I offer?

Lord, please help me to have a greater dependency on you and to trust that your will is perfect. Amen.