November 2011 - multiplication of food

Despite all the bad news we hear going on in the world, the Lord is busy and active working out His plan and taking care of His children. Sometimes He lets us see that in a dramatic way. Last month we held a retreat for the Confirmation kids from a parish close to the Lord’s Food Bank in Juarez, Mexico. The youth arrived Friday evening looking sullen, bored, and not wanting to be there. But as the weekend progressed, their hearts were softened as they listened to talks and received prayer. By Sunday this was a transformed group, laughing, weeping, wanting to get closer to Jesus.

Several of the parents had come along to help with the cooking throughout the retreat, and they had planned a special meal for the final lunch on Sunday. This included móle, a favorite chicken dish served at festivities in Mexico. But the person responsible for buying all the groceries had failed to purchase enough chicken needed to make a sufficient amount of móle to feed the 25 youth plus the priest and the adults helping with the retreat. There were only 2 lbs of chicken legs to be cooked up, deboned, and then the meat shredded – hardly enough for a small family, much less 35 people. When the cooks realized this, they decided to make extra rice and beans to supplement the small amount of móle that each person would get.

Ramona, who was coordinating the weekend, said about the food, “When it was all cooked, there was the mostly rice (2 commercial-size pots full), double the amount of beans (1 stockpot full) and ½ a pot full of chicken móle. I was disappointed but said a prayer and asked the Lord to bless the meal.” When the ladies started serving, out of habit they dished up equal amounts of rice, beans and chicken móle on each plate. “I was busy doing other things and didn’t notice. Later one of them came to me with a plate piled high with food. ‘No,’ I told her. ‘Give that to one of the kids.’ ‘All the kids have eaten,’ she told me, ’and some even had seconds. The staff are eating now – this plate is for you.’ I looked around, and sure enough, everyone was eating or had finished eating.”

When the meal was over, all of the rice was gone, the beans were gone, but there was still half a pot of móle left! “There was half a pot when we started,” Ramona marveled, “and a half of pot when we finished feeding everyone.” One of the moms exclaimed, “Look, there’s still móle left! I had always heard that the Lord multiplied food here at the Food Bank but now I’ve actually seen it with my own eyes!” The ladies divided it up and took the leftover móle home, praising God for the wonders He had done.