There are regular messages which are seen on our televisions encourage us to learn more about how to eat more healthily. As we walk down the aisles of the supermarket, or sit down at a cafe, or even when we occasionally look at the menu at fast food restaurants we are bombarded with facts and figures. Trying to figure out the difference between kilo joules and calories can only be one of the daily tasks. What seems to be fundamental is not just what will satisfy our hunger but more importantly what are we hungering for? The search for the correct balance between what we eat and the life we desire is a delicate one and it is more than just what we weigh, although that may be part of it. Most fundamentally it is what draws us into a relationship with others. Food is not just about feeding ourselves but how when we sit down how it prompts us to move beyond ourselves into a relationship with others.
Jesus focuses on that when people coming to him after the multiplication of the loaves and fish. They want more of the same. Their hunger has been filled but somehow they also experience the deep emptiness in the pit of their stomachs. They dislike that feeling and what someone else to fill them again. Yet Jesus talks to them and to us about the importance of Eucharist. It is not just something given out so that we can walk away. It is a call to enter into a deeper relationship inside ourselves with the person of Christ. St Paul in talking to the Ephesians describes this as a spiritual revolution, so that in discovering God's way we discover goodness and holiness of the truth. As Jesus describes it is the discovery of what brings life to our world. He then goes on to say, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst."
What I believe that Jesus is inviting us to is to look beyond mere externals towards an inner conversion of heart. This is not just achieved through willpower but a receptiveness which acknowledges our need for a life which longs to be filled. This is not achieved by hard work or even severe asceticism where we seek to manufacture hunger. It is actually allowing us to encounter our daily hunger for God in what is needed for this day and this moment. This is not a hunger which just seeks to satisfy ourselves or our own needs but prompts us to see with the heart of God which draws us into a deeper relationship which seeks to fill the deep hunger of the human heart for substance and meaning.
At a time of drought in Australia and the reality of deep hunger in our world, we are called to seek what will sustain not only in times of plenty but also in times of famine. This is not just a wishing the other well or hoping that somehow God will provide. It is examining how we can cooperate with the whole of God's creation to create environments in which we care for our land, our people and for our neighbours. There is a need to seek what God plants in our hearts which will bear fruit for our world. This deep hunger is not just to be fed with physical food but a desire to see that others do not go without. It is only at the times when our lives are shaken by the realities of our frailty and dependence on the goodness of our cooperation with that creation and the gifts entrusted to us that we discover an inner generosity which supports people in need. We see this in the many who contribute to the need of farmers by helping to provide fodder for their livestock. This builds deep connections between those in the city and those on the land. Yet in the same way, we need to work with others in our global community to ensure that they have what they need to lead their daily life. We can see a similar generosity at times of great need but we also need to discover through our knowledge of how to care for the land how we share with others ways of improving agricultural sustainability which empowers people to produce what is needed in a time of global change.
The challenge of our times is not to just focus on our own hunger for material satisfaction but what will open our minds and hearts to how God sees our world. Without this deeper reflection, we will only see what feeds us for today and then tomorrow and then the next day. God calls us to look deeper to see how our relationship with Jesus moves deep within us to find what brings life and what brings hope. To discover how our lives can be Eucharist by who we are in a relationship with and what he invites us to share with others.
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