God provides

As Cairo is reeling between euphoria and tension, we receive news that the Sinai peninsula is taken over by the bedouin tribes because the police/soldiers have withdrawn. Israelis are warned not to go there ... well, it goes for all tourists as well. We also receive news that protests in Algeria and Yemen are picking up. Here back home, no outward show of support for the Egyptians are expressed but people still talk about in the streets.

The weather has been playing up today - one moment sunny, the next cold and drizzly. In fact there was a heavy storm up in Mehane Yehuda 3 kms away from the Old City while it was sunny down in the Kidron valley. Strange weather. Many people are falling sick, to say the least.

Yesterday's readings were very interesting. The 1st reading deals with Adam and Eve's eating the forbidden fruit, while in the Gospel Jesus gives food freely to the crowds. It seems to say tyhat God knows what is best for us - He provides life-giving food and warns us against food that bring destruction and alienation. But I was thinking also about the theme of  work - in the 1st reading work was imposed almost like a punishment in which humanity would earn its food; in the Gospel, no one works for the food: it was freely given. Makes me think of God's providence in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for, when God freely provides for us: the gift of life, the gift of faith, the gift of friends ... and most of the time we work for things so transient such as money, power and we remain dissatisfied, disillusioned and unthankful.