April 22 - Never Hunger Again

Picture a great Thanksgiving feast day, with a huge breakfast of pancakes and eggs, hors d’oeuvres all day long, punch and eggnog to drink and pinching cookies off the platter until dinner is served. Now, here comes the turkey in all its glory, roasted to perfection, served with all the trimmings, and, although we do not like to admit it, we hardly have room for the parsley sprigs, much less our plate full of food . . . we’re too full ourselves!

Now call to mind a full day of yard work or housework, only stopping long enough to down a glass or two of water. Evening comes, and we have pushed beyond hunger . . . we send out for Chinese and . . . yum!! Nothing ever tasted better! We even say to ourselves, “This is the way to dine . . . hungry! Everything tastes so delicious! This is the best meal ever!”

There’s a lesson in this . . . and we know it! Too much distraction in life, too many conversations with friends before we bring a matter before God, too many excuses made before we come to Him in repentance, too much reliance on our own strength and too little on His grace . . .

. . . and dining on the things of this world instead of feasting on the life of Jesus Christ, and life, like food, begins to lose its savor. We begin to lose our hunger for the things that matter.

Those who first heard Him introduce the New Meal, the new manna of His Body and Blood, were baffled and put off. When He said they must “eat (His) flesh and drink (His) blood,” this was not such a bizarre idea to them as it might at first seem . . . His audience knew and were never very far away from the reality of a Paschal meal, a lamb slain, its blood sprinkled, its flesh consumed. All Israel knew that John the Baptist had referred to this Man as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

We are here, on the other side of that first Passover meal. Our responsibility in Cor Unum is to make sure we are never too full of ourselves, the love of the world, too full of guilt, or too satisfied with the good things He has given, to be hungry for Him. When we begin to feast on His sacrifice and His resurrection, life will take on a wonderful new flavor, and even our trials will have a “delicious” end.


"Bon Appetit!"
photo by Kerry