Jesus satiates our Hunger and Thirst!
There is so much hunger and thirst in our hearts and in our world. It is not just the hunger and thirst for bread and water. It is more the hunger and thirst for love, peace, kindness, justice, hope, faith, and trust. And all this, no matter how you look at them, is what God is all about. Many people lack peace and contentment in their hearts. Others feel they never are enough and never would have enough for their many insatiable desires and wants. Many others feel so unloved and unlovable. All these feelings of deficiency push us into various places where we think we can find what or who will quench our thirst and satiate our hunger. Jesus calls out the Jews for seeking him not because they love him but because of the food he gave them the day before. And he tells them: “Do not look for the food that you eat only for today. Rather, seek the food that will bring you peace, joy, faith, hope, and eternal life”. And he is that bread that gives real life. As we eat Jesus in the Eucharist, we enter into a deep relationship with him. It is this relationship that restores us to ourselves so that we can begin to love ourselves and others; it is this relationship that gives us the courage to forgive ourselves because we have been forgiven many times; it is this relationship that provides strength with which to love those who have hurt us; it is this relationship that makes it possible to establish peace and reconciliation with others; it is this relationship that quenches our thirst for peace and justice because we cannot be in a good relationship with Jesus and mistreat any of God’s children. Yes, He is the bread of life; whoever comes to him will never hunger and whoever believes in Him will never thirst (John 6:35). It is this the Eucharist that brought all of us together from everywhere and formed us into a community of St. André Bessette, where our love and care for each other should be what we are known for. May we always approach the Eucharist with such awe and adoration, knowing that in Him resides all that we ever would desire in this life and in the next! Amen
~Father Cornelius Okeke