Friday, May 27, 2016

There's Plenty To Go Around!

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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