Today Jesus says to the disciples: "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." (Mtt 14: 16) We can rightly take this to mean that Christians should meet the physical needs of others using their own resources. We can also consider that people in today are starving for the Word of life. They are frequently lonely, isolated and despairing with little sense of personal worth and meaning. For too long Mass-goers have, generally speaking, delegated the task of communicating the Gospel to clergy, religious, RCIA, base ecclesial communities and the Catholic schools. If you are going to participate in the great mission of feeding the world with the Word of God what are you to do? Are you being asked to go in pairs knocking in the doors of strangers? No, you are not. You are asked to invite family, friends, work mates and, yes, strangers to participate in Alpha or similar courses. Alpha invites people to consider the deeper questions of life as well as feeding them the Word. Many lapsed or resting Catholics need to rediscover the mercy and love of God that is mediated through Christ. It is only then that they can reconnect with their ancestral faith and the birthright of their baptism. The first step, however, is to acknowledge that I too am hungry for the Word.
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