A Reflection for the Memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Find today’s readings here.
“The Lord gave them bread from heaven.”
At the end of the school year, as many students were moving home for the summer, I was left with some unwanted, discarded items. I got both a sweater vest and, more relevantly, a muffin tin. This was the perfect time to launch my sweater-vest-wearing, muffin-making era.
I know 2020 was a time of bread-making for most people, but this summer has been mine. I love chocolate chip banana bread, and I found a delicious family recipe. Making bread is a pretty simple task, one that I can do as a calming activity for myself, or while spending time with friends.
In true college-apartment-living style, my roommates and I don’t own a mixing bowl, so our only pot doubles as one. (And if someone is making pasta, you have to wait.) The muffins turn out different every time because the recipe requires three different bowls, and I don’t have three different bowls to my name. Regardless of the varying texture and color, the bread is delicious every time I make it, and making it has become a weekly practice.
I might have thought that God’s plan for my summer was simply for me to be stylish and sufficient in potassium, but it was so much more than that.
I find rituals like this to shape the seasons of my life, and another formative constant in my summer routine is prayer. I am in the midst of doing St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises in the 19th annotation form, which is done by an hour of prayer and meditation every day, over the course of multiple months (and meeting with a spiritual director every week).
The 19th annotation means that you are praying in your daily life. And daily life is busy. So my hour of prayer each day will often be while my laundry is in the dryer, the last hour before I go to sleep, or while I bake the muffins. Put the batter in the oven, and go sit with God as the bread rises. If I get melodramatic about it, I’m attending to the needs of my soul before quenching the desires of my taste buds.
In prayer, when I’m reflecting over my day and thanking God for the graces I have been given, I usually start with what is on my mind. So there has been a lot of thanking God for banana bread muffins. “The Lord gave them bread from heaven.” I know my muffins aren’t the Eucharist, but I am so grateful for the gifts of life and the means to have banana bread.
I might have thought that God’s plan for my summer was simply for me to be stylish and sufficient in potassium, but it was so much more than that. As with the hungry Israelites in the desert in today’s reading, God knew the larger plan.
