Hg 1: 3-8 Eat and Be Satisfied

Thursday if the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

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By SOPHIE DRUFFNER

Now thus says the LORD of hosts:
Consider your ways!
You have sown much, but have brought in little;
you have eaten, but have not been satisfied;
You have drunk, but have not been exhilarated;
have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed;
And whoever earned wages
earned them for a bag with holes in it.

Thus says the LORD of hosts:
Consider your ways!
Go up into the hill country;
bring timber, and build the house
That I may take pleasure in it
and receive my glory, says the LORD.

We stood in the kitchen of Frassati house at 1:30 AM. “Hail Mary, full of grace…” It had been over a month since college started, and I still could not believe the amazing nature of the people around me. Two other girls and four guys in love with their faith stood, heads bowed, around the kitchen island. It was 1:30 AM in the morning, and we prayed.

Sometimes I’m worried that college isn’t going so well. After I received a 53 on my math test, this thought was confirmed. What was I doing wrong? I had spent hours on math. I had prayed to St. Augustine to help me on the math proofs. I had read the notes twenty times. And then, suddenly, my face smiled and almost not even realizing it, I said “Sophie! Your life is awesome.”

I shocked myself.

But my life really is awesome. I’m eighteen years old, I have a plan for world domination of University Catholic, and I’m learning so much in my math class and biology seminar. My math professor is willing to help me reach a B in his class. The group of University Catholic freshmen is growing. I’m still in touch with most of the friends I made at orientation, and I’ve even started tutoring and teaching violin lessons! And suddenly I thought of how much I was neglecting to count my blessings.

In the reading, Jesus says that we have “eaten, but not been satisfied.” This has happened to me so many times. When I began my freshman year of high school, I thought “Four more years til I’m out of this place! Let’s go!” And suddenly it was three more years, then two, then a year and a half, and finally, days, and I sat in my kitchen and cried because I didn’t want to leave home. The tile floor was cold and my mum was only half-sympathetic until she turned as cold as the floor and told me, “Sophers, be an adult. You’re going away to college. You’re going to be fine.” Talk about tough love.

But I have to remember all my blessings, and I have so many. There’s my lovely floormate who invited me to breakfast with her family when I grew so homesick that I hugged someone else’s sisters. There’s the slow mornings when I can play music and get dressed and I’m not rushed for the 8:10 AM. There’s the beautiful walk to campus—so many trees!—and the huge smile the upperclassmen in UCat always give me. I’ve waited four years to swing dance on top of a parking garage, play Murder in the Dark at 1:00 AM, and run across a lawn with the sprinklers on. I’ve waited four years to learn about Godel’s IncompletemessTheorem: there’s no limit to the human mind! I’ve waited so long and now’s my chance to eat and be satisfied.

So dear reader, eat and be satisfied.. Think about what you have right now, and if that’s hard, just start thinking about a delicious meal that you can make right now without having to go to a campus store. Start thinking, start counting, and then say a prayer to eat, and be satisfied.