The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
I love food.
I come from a culture and heritage with a cuisine rich in flavor. I love eating my favorite Haitian dishes, like white rice draped in a deep sauce of cooked and blended black beans served with savory conch on the side. My taste buds love the thrill of a dish they’ve never tried before. And there are no words for the comfort a slice of pepperoni pizza brings me after a hard day.
God is good for making so much of His creation edible and delicious. It’s a gift too many of us take for granted. Food is a necessity that sustains us, and Jesus knows this. He likens Himself to bread, a staple in the communities of His time, because just like our daily bread that the Lord provides, we need Him daily too.
When I was in formation for my First Holy Communion, one of my classmates asked our parish priest if receiving the Body of Christ on Sunday meant we wouldn’t be hungry for the rest of the day. “Not quite,” he chuckled. He explained that Jesus in the Eucharist feeds our soul so that we don’t feel the need to find Him anywhere else.
While he is right, I’ve also learned over time that feeding myself with His Body once a week, while its importance and benefit can’t be overstated, is not enough. Like the three meals a day I consume to stay alive and alert, I have to consume the Lord more than once a week--in His Word, in daily Mass, through contemplative prayer and adoration--to remain in Him. When I skip my meals, I start trying to satisfy my hunger in the wrong places. Activities and habits that are good in moderation, start to be less filling after a while.
The bread that comes down from Heaven is still bread you have to eat. As He does with everything, Jesus invites us to taste and see that He is good. To return, again and again, to the source of life that always satisfies the hungry heart. Dear Jesus, give us this bread always. May our belief in You lead us to never hunger and thirst again.
Perpetua Charles works as a book publicist in Boston, Massachusetts. She loves the Lord, TV, Disney princesses, books, 90s-00s teen pop, and the color pink. Say hi on Instagram!