Food, Glorious Food
“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.”
~Julia Child
Yesterday was the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. That day gave us the opportunity to think about what it is that truly nourishes us. We all have favorite foods, some healthy and some not-so-healthy. We all have favorite traditions involving food. It often binds family and friends together when they gather for holidays or birthdays or other special family events.
Food is life. No one can go without food. It provides nourishment to the body. Without it, the body would begin to break down. Organs would begin to die. Eventually, the person would pass away.
We need food to stay alive.
Jesus gave us food as well: His Body and Blood. Many of the people scoffed when He told them that unless they ate His Body and drank His Blood they would not have life within them. Yet, the Body and Blood of Christ is that very nourishment that keeps us alive.
Just as being deprived of food kills the physical body, going without the Eucharist starves the soul.
So many people bypass the chance to be nourished at the Table of the Lord. They have opportunities to go to Mass but do not take them. Many begrudge the mandate to go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. Yet, if that is all they do, they are starving themselves the remainder of the week.
If you have the chance to go to Mass once in a while on a weekday, I encourage you to take that opportunity. You will be fed with the breaking open of the Word at the homily and you will be spiritually nourished by taking Communion.
Jesus did not give us this sacrament to look at. He gave us this sacrament to take within ourselves so that, in the taking, we may be changed.
FAITH ACTION: Try to make some time this week to go to Mass and receive Communion — the real food for life.