Food for the Journey ~ by Mary Ann Allen

In the first reading from Deuteronomy, we find God's people in the desert with nothing to eat. However God has plans for them and He provides for them in an unusual way, by bringing forth water from the rock and manna from the heavens. But Moses reminds the people that they cannot live by bread alone but "by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."

Viewing God's actions with His people, we recognize that God's intentions for us might not be the same as we would choose. We also recognize that God sees us differently than we see ourselves. God's judgement is based on what He sees in our hearts. This is easy enough to say, but if we think about it, we discover it is often very difficult for us to see into our own hearts and to recognize who lives there. But God can...

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. We see that Jesus lived both by word and by deed. Every word that Jesus spoke to us, He lived out in His life.

We are called to believe in His Word. If we do this, we can't help but believe in His Real Presence in every Eucharist. He clearly tells us that This is My Body...; This is the cup of My Blood...

It is our responsibility to unite ourselves, through the Eucharist, with each other and to become one family, our parish family. Through our relationship with Jesus, we also received another gift, a relationship with God our Father, and with the Holy Spirit.

The Body and Blood of Christ, the Corpus Christi that we celebrate today, is given to us as food for our journey. This is a journey that will someday unite us in complete relationship not only with each other, but also with Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all eternity.


~ Feast of Corpus Christi ~