Bread For All

The Pope lead a prayer vigil that was interrupted by some nasty weather last night for the pilgrims at World Youth Day. He eventually continued and after the vigil there was Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament through the night.

The thought of that many young Catholics worshiping in Adoration the TRUE PRESENCE OF CHRIST moved me to tears. Honestly. How amazing is that scene? The news media is ignoring this because... well there are all sorts of reasons I am sure, but honestly, think about these kids standing in the rain after melting all day long - tell me that WYD isn't a powerful thing! They are in the TRUE PRESENCE of CHRIST, this will form and shape their souls forever, and it will change the Church. They are the new Church Militant.

There have been those that have said that WYD is a "waste of money" or that the cost could be better used to help the poor and needy. While this argument strikes at our core, it fails to recognize the proper order of need for the Church and for the world. People "do not live on bread alone" instead, we need something more. So before we can feed others we must be able to be fed ourselves, we must be nourished, we must be healthy - so that we may care for others.

Pope Benedict says in his book, "Jesus of Nazareth" that: 

"Jesus is not indifferent toward men's hunger, their bodily needs, but he places these things in the proper context and proper order."

Benedict goes on to quote a German Jesuit, Alfred Delp, that explains the hierarchy of needs for humanity:

"Bread is important, freedom is more important, but most important of all is unbroken fidelity and faithful adoration."

Many get this, they understand the proper order of things. The cries that WYD was too expensive are misguided because what they fail to realize is that without a love of Christ, without a deep-seeded love and desire to worship and adore God, there is little hope in helping or feeding the poor; the youth would instead be scouring the earth for something to replace the God-Shaped-Hole in their hearts.

Likewise we cant expect to reverse the order explained by Delp, and expect that Catholics will be spiritually healthy. God must be the center of our lives. He must be central to all that we do, especially within the context of our Catholic faith. But when we are encouraged to focus more on one another and community, we will lose God in the pursuit a community centered on him. He becomes the guest of honor that no one cares about because they are more concerned with making it a good party. 


Benedict explains happens when we reverse the proper order of caring for ourselves and others:

"When this ordering of goods is no longer respected, but turned on its head, the result is not justice or concern for human suffering. The result is rather ruin and destruction even of material goods themselves. When God is regarded as a secondary matter that can be set aside temporarily or permanently on account of more important things, it is precisely these suppoosedly more important things that come to nothing."

We must put God in his proper place - first in all that we do. When they young Catholics return from Madrid, we must let them lead the way, we must let them teach us how to place God first so that he can be our Bread, so that we may go out and feed others.

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