“Food for our Journey”
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – B
Back in March, I was hiking a trail in Bernheim Forst – the Elm Lick 5-mile trail. I was about half-way through the trail, and I happened upon an older couple, probably in their 70s. I remember thinking to myself: “Wow, they must be in good shape.” I asked them if they needed to sit and take a break. The woman said: “No, we thought, ‘if we are going to finish this trail we better sit and have a bite to eat.” And I instantly thought to myself, yes, we need food for the journey – so why didn’t I bring any?
Let’s suppose a nutritionist from our time got into a time machine and went back to talk with those people of Jesus’ time. And the nutritionist told them that certain foods were especially healthy for them and too much of other foods like saturated fat and last and sugar would lead to numerous types of disease. Our imaginary nutritionist would explain that there are tiny things in food which they cannot see but which will produce good or back effects on their health. They won’t see these effects right away but the good or bad effects of what they eat will show up a few years later, and maybe not even for several years. And lastly, the people are told that if the food tastes wonderful, it’s probably not good for them. The nutritionist would probably be considered ridiculous. People would not be able to understand a message like that.
Today we know a lot about food and its consequences, even if we don’t always follow that we know we should do. Jesus is telling us there is something in the food he offers that will benefit us eternally. It is we who would be the loser if we ignore what he says.
This is one of the greatest tests of our faith in Jesus – to believe something we can’t understand, to believe it simply because we trust the one who told us it is so. It’s no wonder our Lord tells us we need God’s help to accept this, for as he says: “no one can come to me unless the Father who send me draw him.”
We have all lived with this mystery since we made our first Holy Communion. Many times, we may have questioned how this could be. How can ordinary bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ? There are many helpful ways to come to believe this mystery of our faith. One is through prayer. We can pray that Jesus will show us or help us come to a better understanding of the mystery of his body and blood. We can meditate on this passage from John’s gospel on the Bread of Life discourse. We can read the lives of some of our saints. There is a story of a woman, Teresa Neumann, who died in 1962 who lived for 36 years without any food other than the Eucharist. The Nazi authorities took away her food rations card during WW II for this reason. It has been verified scientifically that she fasted on nothing but the Eucharist. But for no other reason available we can simply take Jesus at his word when he says: “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith as Catholics. Elijah didn’t know what was in those hearth cakes. In faith, he ae them and began his journey to Mt. Horeb as the angel directed him to do. We have been told what is in the food Jesus offers us, that it is Jesus himself. We just need to do what the angel told Elijah: “get up and eat, else the journey will be too long.” We say “Amen” before receiving the Holy Eucharist, that word derived from the Hebrew means “certainty” or “truth.” When we say it, we should do so with the conviction and the joy that comes from knowing and trusting Jesus!