In 1885, Vincent Van Gogh visited a museum in Amsterdam in order to see Rembrandt’s famous painting, “The Jewish Bride.” Having seen it he said, “I would give 10 years of my life if I could sit before this picture for a fortnight, (14 Days), with nothing but a crust of bread for food. My first hunger is not for food, though I have fasted ever so long. The desire for painting is so much stronger that when I receive some money, I start at once hunting for models until all the money is gone.”
It is not only the body that needs its hunger fed. The heart and the soul need to be fed also. The bread of material things can never satisfy the heart of a human being. You see, we have many hungers.
The last of the human hungers but the most important is the hunger for love. If this was fully satisfied then most of our other hungers would disappear.
- We hunger for a feeling of importance- Nobody wants to be nobody. We want to matter if only to one person.
- We hunger for acceptance. If we are not accepted it becomes almost impossible for us to realize, for us to know ourselves.
- We hunger for relationships. Without them we are a sail boat without the wind.
- We hunger for faith: For a set of positive beliefs to guide us. Otherwise, we are like a ship without a chart or a compass or a port of destination.
- We hunger for hope- To give us hope is like going on a spiritual hunger strike: We see where we should be heading!!!!!
Now, we are back to the hunger of Love. During the Spanish Civil War a severely wounded soldier was brought back to the field hospital. There was a good chance for his recovery, except he would not eat. The nurses and nuns tried everything, but he refused all food.
One of his buddies realized that his pal was homesick, so he offered to go to the wounded soldiers home to bring back his father. He reached his friend’s house and explained the situation. His father got ready to go while his mother wrapped up a loaf of bread for her son. The patient was happy to see his father but he still would not eat until his father said, “Son, here is some bread your mother baked.” The boy, seemingly bright eyed said, “Oh, bread made by my mother, give me some.” He was soon on the road to recovery.
You and I are in this story. We have been wounded in the battle of life, by sin, by forgetfulness of God, and by the trials and troubles and pains of everyday life. There is nothing magic about a mother’s bread but love was the main ingredient in the bread that his father presented to him from the work of his mother’s hands.
Just so, followers of Jesus Christ, to include all of us, know what love went into the very idea of Holy Communion, into the bringing of His heavenly bread which is offered to us right here, in this hour.
God loved his people Israel so much that he gave them Manna from Heaven. What did the Israelites think? They asked themselves, “What is this, for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” God loved them so much he would not let them parish and He loves us just as much. He sent his Son as the bread of life, eternal life, for us!
Now, there is another hunger that is deeper than love itself. Linked with love, it is the hunger for eternal life. In other words, the hunger for God. St Therese of Lisieux said of the Eucharist- “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but speak only a word, a single word, and I shall be purified, my soul, my heart. By this word you have spoken, and I will become truly a heaven for you.” This word is Jesus himself.
What do we say when Father Rick raises Jesus’ body and blood: “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
Every day we see people, even ourselves, coming out of Payless grocery store, you know the other Catholic Church on the sound end, with baskets full with food and drink. But we don’t find this other bread, the bread of life, in anysupermarket. If we could, we would be well nourished. Only God can give us this food. Only God can satisfy our deepest hunger to live with Him forever.
The manna in the desert sustained life temporarily. The food Jesus gives sustains us forever, for eternity. St. Paul says to the Ephesians, “Put away the old self of your former way of life and be renewed in the Spirit of your minds, and put on the new self.” This is what Saint Therese of Lisieux was talking about, making ourselves a heaven for God!
My sisters and brothers, Jesus comes with a promise, “He who eats the bread that I give will live forever.” Who in their right mind would not want this bread?
All of us yearn and hunger for things that feed our human wants and in the end, some can destroy us. This is what the devil wants of us. Van Gogh desired hunger to paint so much that he kept running out of money for models, money, a human hunger that never lasts.
Holy Communion is many things and does many things. But it is our Manna that sustains us spiritually. Today, I suggest we think of this heavenly bread as medicine for a sick soul, as nourishment for a wounded spirit, as light and strength for a weary mind.
All of us can experience what the wounded soldier experienced if we keep in mind that Holy Communion is the bread from home, from our heavenly Father.
As St. Therese of Liseaux pondered, “Love the heart of Jesus; love Him foolishly; love Him above all things; immersing all your affections in Him without fear of sacrifice. The heart of Jesus is an abyss which does not divide. We love more, we love better when we love Jesus.
Natural affection is transformed, made greater, made God-like. Love is the entire gospel: it is the entire Jesus, in the arms of His Mother and the arms of the cross.”
Love is the greatest of all hungers for love is God.