Deacon Tom Writes,
“There’s Plenty To Go Around!”
Can
we ever be satisfied… with anything? We want faster, bigger, better, more of
everything and we want it right now. We don’t want to wait to have it, or work
long and hard to get it. And the message we hear loud and clear today from
Fifth Avenue, from self-help gurus, from the media, and even from some pulpits
is, “You can have it all and you can have it your way”. Tell tale signs that
our expectations are not realistic.
Our
spiritual senses, if they are well developed, will tune us in to the fact that
there is a problem with our instant gratification thinking and warn us that
this is not the natural order of things. No created thing, no human being can
completely satisfy us or our hearts desires. It is only God who can satisfy the
deepest longing of our hearts. Today we contemplate the wisdom of God as we
celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. God, the
architect of the universe and all that exists within it, designed us to seek the
ultimate good, which, of course, he is by his nature, by his very being. He
“hard wired” us, so to speak, so that we would come looking for him, seeing his
image in all creation, and putting aside all else in our search for the “real
thing”, the ultimate goodness, the one and only giver of life and of all that
is.
Those
who were fortunate to be around Jesus listening to him speak about the Kingdom
of God may not have fully realized the gift they were given, the bread of life,
food that would satisfy completely. What’s our excuse? As Catholics there is no
more profound mystery of faith than what we experience when we receive the
Eucharist – the Son of God coming into our lives and dwelling within us and
satisfying us completely. God becomes, in a sense, the very fuel that energizes
us to do our part in helping bring about the reign of God in our times, in our
lives, and in the world around us.
That
God would become really present in the bread and wine during the Consecration
remains as difficult teaching today as it was when Jesus first revealed it.
Recall how many walked away because this teaching was too difficult? Jesus
asked the apostles, “Will you leave me
also”. And Peter responded, “Master,
to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
The
gift of the Eucharist reveals God’s desire to be a part of the very fiber of
our lives. We give our thanks for this precious gift by sharing our faith and
our lives with one another as we await the fullness of the long awaited kingdom
of God on earth.
Enjoy
the day!
Deacon
Tom
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