Wednesday
of the 3rd Week of Easter
April 22, 2015 6:30am
I know that we need money to
live.
There’s no way around that.
I also know that we all enjoy
comforts in our lives – tasty food, a nice home, a decent car, and on it goes.
But, but, many or most or maybe
all of us learn that these things are not really what make us happy.
It’s a person or persons, a
relationship or relationships that really count.
That’s what really brings us
happiness.
Those of us who have suffered the
death of a spouse or the break-up of a marriage or the loss of someone else
close to us know this lesson very well.
I think eventually we all learn
this.
And, of course, this is also
where Jesus comes in.
He comes to satisfy us – to
satisfy our deepest hunger as human beings.
He offers us meaning, purpose,
closeness, intimacy, fulfillment, and what we need to call fullness – the
fullness of life.
In this, Jesus satisfies our
deepest hunger.
This is why, today, he calls
himself “the bread of life.”
There is nothing and, in fact, no
one else in the long run of life who can satisfy the deepest yearning and hopes
and desires, the deepest hunger that we have.
This is why Jesus calls himself “the bread of life.”
And it is why he actually gives
us himself under the form of bread.
It is why he gives us the
Eucharist – no question, to remain with and be with and abide with us.
But he gives us himself under the
form of bread also to remind us that he is the food that satisfies our most
profound and ultimate hunger as human beings.
He, the person, and our
relationship with him – like other persons and relationships, and also unlike
other persons and relationships, in fact, in a way that no other person and
relationship can – he satisfies our hunger.
That is why he calls himself and
is “the bread of life.”
