Scripture for Your Inner Outcasts

Transcript

"One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."

Welcome back to Scripture for Your Inner Outcasts. It's Saturday, February 14th, 2026, the Memorial of Saints Valentine, Cyril, and Methodius. Today we are joined by Dr. Gerry Crete, one of the co-founders of Souls and Hearts, the author of the book Litanies of the Heart and a counselor with his own private practice, Transfiguration Counseling, based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Hey there. Welcome. Today is February 14th, so I wish you a Happy Valentine's Day. But today is also the memorial of Saint Cyril and Methodius. Cyril and Methodius are special to me. I attend a Ruthenian church and they are considered the apostles to the Slavs. So they had a monumental effect on, you know, Slavic Church, you know, Constantinople and the missionary spirit and development of the alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet. And just so much, so great an influence on Eastern Europe that Saint Pope John Paul II made them co-patrons of Europe. But let's get to the reading today. You know, I'm focusing on the Gospel today, and it's from Mark. And this is the one where there's a great crowd and they don't have enough to eat. And, you know, Jesus summons his disciples and says he has pity for the crowd because they've been with him for three days with nothing to eat. His disciples answer him and say, where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them? Here in the deserted place? Then Jesus says, look, how many loaves do we have? And the answer is seven. Seven loaves. But there are thousands of people. And here Jesus performs a miracle. He takes the loaves. He gives thanks. He breaks them, that Eucharistic moment, and it's distributed to the crowd. And even a few fish are also distributed. And everyone eats and is satisfied. And there's leftovers. So this is a miracle. It's a miracle. So I want to just take a moment and just reflect on the times when we have felt like we just haven't had enough. Maybe we feel like we are not enough, or that we're never going to get our needs met, that we're always going to be stuck in this exile, that we always will be stuck having to be rejected or alone or despised or abandoned, that we will never have enough to eat.

We will never have our emotional needs satisfied. So we pause and listen to Jesus, that his heart is moved, right? His heart is moved for those who are suffering. His heart is moved for those who are hungry, but not just for food, hungry for love, hungry for connection and care. And when we think perhaps there's just seven loaves, or there's just this tiny little bit, we can rest assured that Christ will multiply that. Take a moment and let him multiply his love in your heart. Allow him to feed you. Allow him to give you everything you need. Notice that you can eat, if you will, you can feel and be satisfied because you are in his embrace. He supplies you with everything you need, entire cloud of witnesses, all the saints that can meet every human need. His mother can meet every motherly need. He can meet every need. Just thank you, Lord, for this gift. We thank you that you provide for us, give us eyes to see, give us hearts that are open to receive. And in that we praise you. In today's liturgy, the Alleluia response is, "one does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." So let us just remember his words of love and compassion, that he weeps and he sees us, and he is, his heart is moved for us, and he calls us toward him, and he satisfies us. We just thank you, Lord, for that.

Listeners can find more content from Dr. Gerry Crete, including a link to his book, The Litanies of the Heart, in the description of today's show. Thanks for joining us and we hope to see you again tomorrow.

And so we just invoke our patrons. Mary, our Mother, Untier of Knots, pray for us. Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse and protector, pray for us. Saint John the Baptist, who prepares a way for Jesus, pray for us. Our Lord Jesus our Savior, sweetest Jesus, save us.