Month: August 2018

Dear Friends in Christ ,

Hunger and thirst tune the mind, don’t they? Have you ever experienced biting and painful hunger such that if you don’t eat you will literally drop? Our bodies have needs, and satisfying our hunger and thirst is fundamental to living. But the church has always taught we are more than just body; we are body and soul. But how is the soul satisfied?

The soul is fed supremely with the Eucharist. This is Jesus the Bread of Life the food for the journey, nourishing us and sustaining us in this life and the life to come. Every time we receive the Eucharist we know Communion with the flesh of the risen Christ, a flesh given life and giving life through the Holy Spirit. We cannot grow and mature in the Christian life unless we receive this bread of life. The Catechism expresses this wonderfully: ‘This growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion, the bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death, when it will be given to us as viaticum.’

Spiritual hunger is harder to detect than spiritual hunger. But when we do detect it we become open to the prompting and leading of the Holy Spirit. It is truly a gift of the Holy Spirit to know when we are hungry or thirsty – for God, for his truth, for his love.

This Bread of Life Discourse in St. John’s Gospel gives the most wonderful insight into the gift of the Eucharist. Jesus is our life source, he is the meaning of our existence, He is the Bread of Life, sustaining and feeding us. The Eucharist is the key to understanding the mystery of Jesus Christ. What an incredible honour to be invited to the Table of the Lord each week!

Dear Friends in Christ, 

Jesus gave various signs because they had the power to lead people to faith in him. The first sign he gave was the provision of abundant wine at the marriage of Cana. It ‘manifested his glory.’ The feeding of the five thousand was also a sign to people, intended to lead them to faith in Jesus. They should have understood that if Jesus had the power to give them bread from heaven (spiritual): ‘do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you.’ Rather than putting their faith in him, the people, instead, wanted to ‘take him by force to make him king’, compelling Jesus to escape into the hills. Signs must be read correctly if they are to bring us to saving faith in Jesus.

Peter and the Twelve correctly read the signs that Jesus gave and refused to leave him: ‘Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’ The Lord always works ‘signs’ in our lives. They should bring us to greater faith in him: ‘he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name’. What are these ‘signs’? Every day he cares for us, stays at our side, provides for our needs, and keeps us safe under his protection. Through his Word and through his Church, he teaches us and directs our lives. In the Eucharist he nourishes us with his life-giving Word, and feeds us with his own body and blood. These ‘signs’ should lead us into abundant life: ‘I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Do you see the ‘signs’ in your own life? Ask the Lord to show you the countless ways that he cares for you and give you his life in abundance – his gifts of peace, joy and love. Thank him for the ‘signs’ of his love. Declare your faith in him.

Dear Friends in Christ, 

‘Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest for a while’

‘Grant me most dear and loving Jesus, to rest in you above created things; above health and beauty; above all glory and honour; above all power and dignity; above all knowledge and skill; above all praise and fame; above all sweetness and consolation; above all hope and promise; above all merit and desire; above all gifts and favours that you can bestow and shower upon us; above all joy and jubilation that the mind can conceive and know; above angels and archangels and all the hosts of heaven; above all things visible and invisible; and above everything that is not yourself, O my God.’

O Lord my God, you transcend all things; you alone care most high, most mighty, most sufficient and complete, most sweet and comforting. You alone are most full of beauty and glory, in whom all good things in their perfection exist, both now and ever have been, ever will be. All, therefore, is too small and unsatisfying that you can give me beside yourself or that you can reveal and promise me of yourself unless I can see and fully possess you. For my heart cannot rest nor be wholly content until it rests in you, rising above all your gifts and creatures.’

‘O Lord Jesus Christ, spouse of the soul, lover of purity and Lord of creation, who will give me wings of perfect liberty, that I may fly to you and be at rest? When shall I be set free, and taste your sweetness, O Lord my God? When shall I become recollected in you, that for love of you I may no longer be conscious of myself? But of you alone in a manner not known to all men, and above all perception and measure…?

‘Come to me, Lord, come, for without you no day or hour is happy; without you my table is without its guest, for you alone are my joy. Sadness is my lot, and I am like a man imprisoned and loaded with chains, until you refresh me with the light of your presence, and show me your face as my friend. Let others seek whom they will besides you, but nothing ever can or will give me joy but yourself alone, my God, my hope and my eternal salvation.’ (Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ)