WE BECOME WHAT WE EAT
Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6:51-58
We give a lot of thought to the food we eat. And that’s good, because our diets significantly affect our lives and the planet. In many ways, we become what we eat.
We need to pay greater attention to our spiritual diets because these affect us even more. Our minds gnaw at the stressors in our lives and soon we find we’re consumed by them. Media bombard us with quick-fix ads, hateful speech, violent entertainment, and negativity. It’s so easy for us to become angry, bitter, and materialistic. In the spiritual sense, it’s even more true – we become what we eat.
The readings on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ highlight the importance of spiritual nourishment.
Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel takes place at the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread, which recalled how God nourished the people with manna and with his word in the desert (cf. first reading). While reiterating that memory, Jesus emphasizes that the bread he gives is different from the manna in the desert!
- The manna that was not eaten within the day had to be thrown away. After Jesus fed the five thousand, twelve baskets of fragments were gathered and saved; this indicates that this bread lasts.
- The manna was limited and only for the Jews. The bread which Jesus gives is for always and for all people.
- The manna nourished the people only during the journey to the Promised Land. The bread of life nourishes us with eternal life.
Jesus emphasizes that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life. We become what we eat!
St Paul (second reading) reminds the Corinthians about the significance of the Eucharist. By participating in the Eucharist, we become the body of Christ; we become one. We become—or we ought to become—what we eat.
Jesus nourishes us for always by giving us his word, and his body and blood.
Am I satisfied with the junk food the world offers or do I feast on Jesus the Word and the Living Bread? Do I live in communion with those around me or is the Eucharist only a ritual act I perform?
May our celebration make us what we eat: one with Christ and one with one another.
