“You Do It”: Reflections of a Roman Catholic Woman Priest

Prayer is our lifeline to God. Often we pray for others: for those we love and those we know and those we do not know. When the love of Christ fills us we want the best for everyone, and especially we want no one to be without and need basics like food and shelter and, yes, love and caring. We pray in the spirit of the prayer that Jesus taught us: for the kingdom (kin-dom) of God to come on earth so ALL will have daily bread and the experience of being forgiven (Matthew 6:9-13). Indeed, Jesus taught us how to pray and he often went aside to pray: to talk with his Father. We can pray the formal prayer Jesus taught us and we can just talk with him as we do with friends and share with him and his Father about what is in our hearts and what we need, and the needs of those around us and the needs of the whole world. Prayer is powerful and it is important for us to pray as much as we can: Paul suggested that we “pray continually”- I Thessalonians 5:17). And yet, Jesus suggests action as much as prayer.

In all four Gospels there is an account of Jesus feeding large numbers of people. He is completely attuned to the human needs for food and physical well being. In John’s Gospel (John 6: 1-13) he involves the disciples in his concern to feed the huge group. In Matthew(14:13-21), Mark 6:35-39) and Luke(9:13), the disciples bring him their concern about the hungry crowd and he responds- asking them ” YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT”. They are at a loss as to how do this until Jesus takes what little is available, a few loaves and fishes, and multiplies it, instructing the disciples how to pass the food out to feed the whole crowd with plenty left over.

So when the disciples brought Jesus their concerns for the basic needs of others, Jesus tells them to meet these needs-“YOU give them something to eat! And when they were overwhelmed and did not know how to do this, he provided what was needed. Jesus is saying to us: yes, pray for the needs of others, but try to meet these needs yourself! Don’t leave it at a prayer.

Many years ago-in 2007 and 8, Judy Beaumont and I began a program of reaching out to homeless and hungry people in Lion’s Park in Fort Myers. The only way we could do this was to mobilize two different church groups to volunteer to cook for the crowd on Fridays. We were so blessed this took off with much enthusiasm. In fact one group began its own ministry in another park on Monday nights as well. That group led by Pastor Joe Irvin and his wife Cece Simon continues to do this to date! We also began a feeding program in an indoor facility bought for that purpose. When Pastor Judy B and I could no longer do Friday nights in the park faithful volunteers, a woman and her husband continued-Chris Miller and Rick Judy. Even when Rick went home to God a few years later Chris and her team of volunteers continued this loving work. Friday night feeding in Lion’s park continues with people who want to serve and help gathering at 4:15 to participate. How amazing is this-seventeen years after the feeding began! May God continue to bless Chris Miller and her friends!

The other day someone with serious breathing problems asked me to pray that the broken air conditioner and porous wall in her apartment be fixed. Instead I added my voice to hers by calling the landlord and stressing that these needed to be fixed immediately. Within two days they were fixed. She thanked me for my prayers-which indeed were prayers of doing something not asking God to fix it. Now, I in no way had the skills to do this, but I did have the skill to call and get it done. So when you are asked for prayers, indeed you can pray but also ask yourself and perhaps the person asking “Is there some way I can help?” Yes, there are things way beyond our abilities or even purview that may be needed when prayer is asked and prayer is always a wonderful gift to give. But just sometimes, maybe WE are the answer to prayer. Let’s look for those times when we can be at least part of the answer to another’s prayers. Then, as Jesus said, God’s kingdom-kin-dom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

With Love and blessings,

Pastor Judy Lee,

Good Shepherd Ministries of Southwest Florida

Some of the participants who began with us in Church In the Park